Dangerous Ground
by Totoromo
Summary: Grimmjow is forced to teach programming at Ichigo's technical college. Why is he wearing an ankle monitor and stalking Ichigo? Is Ichigo really just a college student? Yaoi, GrimmIchi. Romance, Crime, Tech, Drama. Also NnoitraxShiro.
1. The Mark

**Title:** Dangerous Ground

**Fandom:** Bleach

**Rating:** M, sexual situations, sex, language, violence, lemon

**Description:** Grimmjow is forced to teach programming at Ichigo's technical college. Why is he wearing an ankle monitor and stalking Ichigo? Is Ichigo really just a college student? Yaoi, GrimmIchi. Romance, Crime, Tech, Drama.

**Disclaimer:** Bleach is created and owned by Tite Kubo, I merely pay homage to characters and a story I love.

_A/N: Some of you might remember that I did a poll awhile ago. This was one of the stories on the poll. I was going to wait until Demonology, my other GrimmIchi was over, but oh well._

**Arc 1**

**The Mark**

* * *

"Who do you think this new guy is?" Renji asked.

"I heard a rumor that he's some big shot in the industry," Kira replied.

"Well I heard that he's a convict," Shuuhei said.

"Whatever. He's probably just some normal guy. He can't be worse than Kuchiki anyways," Ichigo told them.

The class was fairly small for the technical college. Most of the computer labs usually were. Ichigo was happy he was in a class with a lot of his friends, but this was the only offering of the course so he supposed it wasn't that strange. The others were taking it for fun or out of curiosity, but it was required for Ichigo's degree in video game design. Ichigo looked at the clock. The professor was five minutes late.

The door opened and the class quieted. The first thing Ichigo thought was "blue". Some of his professors looked pretty odd, but so far none had brightly dyed blue hair styled in artful disarray.

The man was wearing dark blue jeans and a form fitting black t-shirt with a leaf cuff on his wrist. His hands were in his pockets as he surveyed the room, his electric blue eyes almost looking predatory. Ichigo shuddered when his professor's eyes landed on him. The man smiled disconcertingly at Ichigo.

"Name is Grimmjow Jaegerjaques," Grimmjow looked at the whiteboard behind him, briefly wondering if he should write his name. Like I care if they know how to spell it he thought, deciding to leave the board alone. He considered his introduction for a moment before beginning. "I don't really care if you fail or pass this class, just try to not piss me off. I don't have a syllabus but I guess I'm supposed to get you guys one. Now I know a lot of you have been taking C, C++, or C sharp or whatever, but if you're gonna wanna script you'll want to use Lua. Just like the other crap you've been learning, it'll work with most gaming engines; Unreal, id Tech 4, RenderWare, the Crytec Engine, etc. It's small, free, and fast. Lua means moon in Portuguese and it's name is Portuguese because it was made in Brazil. I'll only grade on projects, not tests or any other crap. Don't copy each other's codes because I swear to god I will know and I'll rip your face off."

The students whitened at his threat.

"Any questions?" Grimmjow said, taking a seat at his chair and beginning to fiddle with one of his thumb rings.

No one moved. Finally Renji raised his head. "Are you a convict?" he asked. The class laughed nervously around him.

"No," Grimmjow said, putting his feet up on his desk to reveal an ankle monitor attached to his left foot. He laughed softly at the faces of his students. "And of course I'm not being forced to teach you as some lame ass attempt of community service."

Ichigo exchanged uneasy glances with his friends.

"Any _other _questions?" Grimmjow asked. That'll shut them up, he thought to himself. Class was remarkably quiet as he went through his first lesson.

* * *

"He's lying," Renji said finally as the small group hung out in the shade of some trees.

"Oh yeah, then why was he wearing an ankle bracelet?" Kira asked.

"Maybe he's a drunk," Shuuhei suggested. "Rangiku had to wear one for awhile after...well, you know."

"They don't make dangerous people teach college students. It doesn't make sense," Renji went on.

Ichigo was quiet. He sipped at his can of soda looking back at the classroom. Seriously, what had that look been? During the whole class he could swear that the man had been eyeballing him. He stiffened when he saw the professor in question walking across the school grounds to the staff parking lot. He watched intently as the man put on a helmet and then jumped onto his motorcycle.

"Ichigo?" he heard a feminine voice call out his name.

"Uh?" he turned his head. "Oh hi Rukia. I didn't see you come up."

"Yeah, you were too busy eye raping Mr. Blue over there," she joked.

"Shit, Professor Jaegerjaques was around? He didn't hear me, did he?" Renji asked.

"You were checking him out?" Shuuhei asked with an arched brow.

"Of course I wasn't!" Ichigo protested.

"Ichigo was probably just making sure that he didn't murder someone on his way out," Renji laughed.

"What are you talking about?" Rukia asked.

* * *

"Because it's harder for me to tell with the chicks," Grimmjow told Nnoitra over the phone. "Sometimes they just look nerdy. Sometimes they look stupid and they're smart and sometimes they look smart and they're stupid."

"I guess you're right. Look at Nel," Nnoitra said.

"There's a group of them that hang out together, I think I'll go for one of them," Grimmjow said.

"You gonna have fun with the kid?" Nnoitra asked with a lecherous laugh.

"Unlike you I can do this without having to have sex," Grimmjow replied.

"Yeah, but why would you?"

* * *

The red haired one is probably not bright enough, the blond would be compliant but probably doesn't have what I want. Mr sex tattoo might be a little too on the ball for me to mess with. But...orange head is perfect, Grimmjow thought to himself during the next class. Besides, I like the way he avoids my eyes and blushes when I look at him. He has an ear cuff, I wonder if he has any piercings.

As the students worked on a small project he had given them, Grimmjow walked around the room under the guise of checking on their work.

He practically stalked Ichigo, padding softly so that the kid wouldn't hear him come up from behind. Grimmjow leaned over his shoulder.

"Need help with anything, Ichigo?" Grimmjow growled into Ichigo's ear.

"Gah!" Ichigo jumped. Grimmjow barely avoided Ichigo's head flying into his nose.

"Too much caffeine today?" Grimmjow asked, a wide grin on his face.

How the hell did he get there without me noticing? Ichigo wondered. Wait a minute, he called me by my first name. How does he even know it? And isn't that a little too informal from a teacher?

Grimmjow liked the confused look on Ichigo face. "Did you need help with anything?" Grimmjow asked again.

"...no," Ichigo said.

Grimmjow could hear Ichigo's friends snickering at him at he walked back to the front of the class.

Maybe he just isn't used to be a teacher, Ichigo thought, chewing on his lip.

* * *

Grimmjow waited for two weeks before he followed Ichigo after class. He knew that he probably should wait longer if he truly wanted to be inconspicuous but he had never been a patient person. He dodged in and out of traffic on his bike, keeping the beaten up looking Honda in his view while still hanging back. He saw Ichigo park and drove right on by, parking further up the street.

Grimmjow casually walked into a couple of the nearby business, checking out their wares while looking for a patch of bright orange. He wound up buying some ice cream because people don't usually "just browse" when going into an ice cream shop. On his next stop he hit his mark though.

Ichigo's eyes went wide as his professor walked through the door.

"Are you really wearing an apron with kittens and puppies on it?" Grimmjow asked Ichigo, laughing.

"And bunnies!" came a voice from the back.

"Shut up Urahara!" Ichigo yelled back.

"I hope that isn't your boss you're yelling at," Grimmjow stated.

"It is."

"Well, he seems understanding at least."

Ichigo rolled his eyes. "You have no idea how weird he is."

The man in question came out, handed Ichigo a kitten, smiled at Grimmjow, and then turned and left.

"What the hell was that guy wearing?" Grimmjow said as the sound of Urahara's wooden clogs faded.

"Only god knows," Ichigo said. "Ow!" he exclaimed as the kitten in his arms clawed him. "Why are you here anyways?"

"You're not really polite, are you?" Grimmjow replied. Ichigo just glared at him. "I got you some ice cream," Grimmjow said.

"You've been eating it."

"Does that mean you're not interested?"

"Why the hell would I want your slobbered on ice cream cone?" Ichigo asked. "You're not supposed to eat in here anyways."

Grimmjow held the cone out to the kitten, who investigated the ice cream for a moment before giving a tentative lick. Evidentially liking it, the kitten licked it again.

"Hey, don't do that," Ichigo said, backing away so the cat couldn't reach the cone.

"You really just are so adorable right now," Grimmjow grinned at him.

"You can't say that!" Ichigo yelled at him. "I was right! You _are_ being weird and creepy to me in class!"

"No reason to jump to conclusions, I'm just stating a fact," Grimmjow said. He dumped his remaining ice cream into the trash bin and jumped over the counter.

Ichigo backed away quickly.

"You have internet here?" Grimmjow asked, looking at Ichigo's laptop. Ichigo always brought his laptop. His boss didn't care if he worked on his homework or just caught up on his email if there was nothing else to do in the pet shop.

"Don't touch my computer!" Ichigo yelled at him. Grimmjow ignored him, taking out a flash drive, inserting it and starting a program. "What the fuck!" Ichigo yelled again.

"Quiet or your boss is gonna come out," Grimmjow said. "I'll say that you were hitting on me and I came back here for a little fun."

"He wouldn't believe that, I get hit on all damn day and don't..." Ichigo's eyes went wide. "What the hell are you doing?" he looked at the scrolling numbers and words.

"I, uh, forgot my password. Just trying to remember it."

"Don't fucking hack people's email on my laptop! You think I can afford to get in trouble again?" Ichigo shoved the kitten at Grimmjow.

"That's not a weapon. I mean, he's probably pretty sharp but I ain't scared," Grimmjow grinned. He stopped the program, grabbed his key chain flash drive and started to leave the shop.

"Wait a minute! You just..."

Grimmjow had no idea what Ichigo was going to try and yell at him but he didn't really care. Ichigo stood there looking at the swinging door.

"Something wrong?" Kisuke came out from the back.

"No."

"Mew!" The kitten in Ichigo's hand cried. Ichigo sighed and walked over to the display window and placed the kitten with his brothers and sisters.

"Keep out of trouble this time, runt," Ichigo warned the cat.

* * *

"_...You think I can afford to get in trouble again?" Ichigo had said._

Grimmjow already had the kid's address and had passed by it once. It was in a crappy neighborhood but Grimmjow was impressed with it once it got in. He must know the landlord, because a college student couldn't get this much space, Grimmjow thought. Unless he's rich, but he doesn't look it. Crappy locks though. He smiled when he saw Ichigo's computer set up. After that statement, Grimmjow just knew that Ichigo had to have something worthwhile back at home. Perfect, Grimmjow thought, sitting down in front of the dual monitors.

This kid is pretty stupid to have such lax security, or did he really think that door would be enough to stop someone? Or maybe he just expects someone to try and steal it? Grimmjow had noticed that everything was bolted down. Naïve. He shook his head and hummed to himself as he begun to work. His phone rang. If that's Nnoitra I'm gonna...he looked at the number and answered right away.

"Where are you?"

"Why Officer Ochi, how are you doing this evening?" Grimmjow said.

"Where are you?"

"I'm just visiting one of my new students," Grimmjow answered.

"Address?"

Grimmjow gave Ichigo's address.

"Hm," he heard over the line above the typing.

"You guys sure are wasting a lot of taxpayer money keeps tabs on me," Grimmjow told the man.

"Ok, location confirmed. Let me check your student list."

"Oh, you don't trust me?"

"Stupid question."

"The kid's name is Ichigo Kurosaki," Grimmjow offered.

There was a couple of minutes of silence. Grimmjow wondered if he could keep working on Ichigo's computer or if that was a bad idea considering who he was on the phone with.

"Ok, student's name and address confirmed."

"See, I told you," Grimmjow ran his fingers through his hair.

"You know you're not supposed to screw your students, right, Jaegerjaques?"

"Of course not."

"I'm looking at his picture right now and he seems like your type," Officer Ochi said.

Well yeah, that's why I picked him. It's a lot more believable that way, Grimmjow thought.

"I'm just helping him with his studies."

"Get out of there in five minutes or I'm coming by," Officer Ochi threatened.

"I'm on my way out right now," Grimmjow said. He hung up.

Well fuck. On to plan B. I wonder if I should seduce the kid just to keep them off my trail. Grimmjow smiled. It definitely sounded like fun. I'll make him wear a frilly apron and make me cookies, Grimmjow thought, thinking of Ichigo's work apron.


	2. The Tease

**The Tease**

* * *

"Kurosaki, I want to see you after class," Grimmjow said.

Behind his computer Renji looked over at Ichigo and gave him a thumbs up and a goofy grin. Ichigo flipped him off. Ichigo had told his friends about Grimmjow coming to his work, and since then it wasn't as though the professor had been subtle in his attentions towards Ichigo, hovering over Ichigo whenever he could, giving him that crocodile grin during lectures. All of his friends thought it was hilarious and assured him that at least he'd get an A in the class, but he still felt his face heat up when he felt the blue haired man's eyes on him.

As soon as everyone left the room Ichigo turned towards his professor. "Can you be quick? I have another class after this one."

"Liar," Grimmjow said with a grin.

I really hope he's just guessing and doesn't know that for a fact, Ichigo thought, wondering if the man was stalking him.

"What can I do for you?" Ichigo asked.

"Oh, is that a real question, Ichigo?" Grimmjow said, leaning in towards the boy. "Because I have a list."

"Let me rephrase that, what the hell do you want?"

"What a mouth you got," Grimmjow said. "Is that anyway to talk to your professor?"

Ichigo didn't say anything, just stared at him with his hands crossed.

"Come 'ere," Grimmjow said, walking over to the computer Renji had just left. "Now tell me what this is."

Out of everything Ichigo thought might happen, this wasn't on his list. Oh shit, he thought. "I-I...we just made a fun little flash game and were testing it over the school network."

"No kidding. And how did you install it?"

"I...just did," Ichigo offered lamely.

"Oh, are you the admin now? Because that's the only person that can install anything on these machines. Hell, I don't have permission to install crap in the computer lab," Grimmjow said.

Ichigo considered his answer. "I got the password from an administrator."

"The only person who keeps the passwords around here is Gin Ichimaru. You saying he gave you his password?"

Gin Ichimaru was probably one of the most paranoid people Ichigo had ever met. For some reason he had kept running into the man and not once had he felt at ease in any of their conversations, which Gin always initiated. Not only that but the man had a smile that was exactly like the Mona Lisa if she were considering whether to murder her painter or make herself a sandwich or both and in what order. Saying that he had volunteered his password would be ridiculous and saying that he had somehow tricked Gin into giving it to him was equally as unbelievable.

"You hacked it," Grimmjow said.

Ichigo groaned. "Look, it's just a small thing. I don't really think it needs to go beyond us."

"It's not a small thing at all," Grimmjow pointed out. "And it was stupid."

Damn it, I'm so getting kicked out of this school, Ichigo thought.

"I'm willing to overlook it."

Ichigo looked up. He saw the light gleaming in Grimmjow's eye. This is so not good, Ichigo thought. The last place I want to be is at this freak's mercy.

"What are you doing tonight?" Grimmjow asked.

"I'm going to a club with my friends."

"Sounds great. What time?"

Damn it, Ichigo thought. It's not as bad as it could be though, right? Lots of people around?

"You're blackmailing me," Ichigo stated.

"I'm just going to meet you and your friends at a club. Simple. Easy."

Ichigo couldn't really think of a good way out of his situation so he gave Grimmjow the address of the club, the time he was going to be there, and exchanged cell phone numbers.

I wonder what lie I can come up with to tell everyone else? Maybe I can pretend that we just accidentally ran into each other?

* * *

"You look nervous," Shuuhei said to Ichigo as they nursed their drinks. "Who was that who just called you?"

"Ha ha!" Ichigo laughed.

His friends looked at him.

"I didn't really think that was funny," Shuuhei told him.

"Why the hell did you have to drag me along?" Nnoitra was asking Grimmjow.

"Shut up. There's a jumpy looking blond in the group that you can probably harass," Grimmjow mentioned.

"Oh yeah?" Nnoitra asked with interest.

"There they are," Grimmjow nodded towards the booth containing Ichigo and his friends.

"The blond does look like fun. Or he might just run away, but that's fun too," Nnoitra said.

"Whatever, let's move," Grimmjow headed towards the table.

"Hey guys," he said, getting Ichigo's attention.

"Oh, professor, what are you doing here?" Ichigo said, turning red and trying to look surprised.

As Grimmjow tried to engage Ichigo in some small talk Nnoitra eyed Kira. Kira nervously sat farther back in his seat, trying to not visibly gulp. Shuuhei frowned at Nnoitra and wrapped his arm around the blond's waist.

"What are you..." Kira said.

"Shhh," Shuuhei said. "For tonight just pretend we're together. That guy looks kind of dangerous." He figured it would be easier that way.

Kira blushed slightly and nodded.

Like I care if he has a boyfriend, Nnoitra thought to himself, as he saw Shuuhei glare at him. It's just more fun this way anyways.

"Who the hell are you?" Someone asked him.

He turned around and his eyes widened. In front of him was an albino, white skin and hair, with striking yellow on black eyes. He was wearing tight leather pants, a bright red ripped t-shirt that hugged his body, and knee high combat boots. His arms and fingers were laced with cuffs and rings and he had a spiked collar around his neck.

"Nice contacts," Nnoitra said to the kid. He gasped slightly when he felt a hand around his throat.

"Open up," the kid said.

Nnoitra grinned and stuck out his tongue.

"I didn't think you could ink a tongue like that."

"Oh, you can tattoo just about anything," Nnoitra said with a wide grin.

"This is my cousin, Shiro. I still don't know who the hell you are," Ichigo said from the table.

"Just a friend of Grimmjow's. I'm Nnoitra."

"I just came by to say hi," Shiro said to the table.

"Have fun," Ichigo told him.

"Hey, where ya going?" Nnoitra said as the boy began to walk off.

"My band is about to go on," Shiro explained.

"Can I be a groupie?" Nnoitra asked.

"Only if you buy me enough booze."

"Not a problem," Nnoitra said with a smile. "See you after the show."

"Seriously? Like two minutes and your dumbass friend has to hit on my cousin?" Ichigo asked.

"Well, how could he help himself? Your cousin looks like you and you're irresistible," Grimmjow told him. Ichigo just gaped at him. "Hey, can I talk to you in private?"

Ichigo wanted to say no, but reluctantly agreed. His friends' eyebrows shot up as he left.

"Maybe Ichigo likes the guy after all," Renji offered.

"Oh, I guess I can let you go now," Shuuhei said to Kira. "That scary guy wandered off and I think he's interested in Shiro now anyways."

"Um, well, you don't really..." Kira was wondering how to say that not was it only not necessary that Shuuhei stop touching him but that it'd be great if he'd do a lot more often, without sounding too awkward. Renji just grinned at the two of them and excused himself, leaving for the dancer floor.

* * *

Grimmjow dragged Ichigo down an empty hallway.

"What the hell?" Ichigo said to him once they stopped walking.

"What? I just wanted to get you alone. Nothing wrong with that."

"Who the hell are you?" Ichigo asked.

"What?"

"I mean, you obviously did something wrong to have that monitor on you, but I have no idea why they'd think that putting you with students was a good idea."

"Do you really want to know who I am?" Grimmjow asked seriously.

Ichigo nodded.

Grimmjow stepped forward, pushing Ichigo into the wall. Ichigo gasped. Grimmjow pressed his body into Ichigo and spoke into his ear. "I'm a vampire," Grimmjow said huskily.

"What?"

Grimmjow still had Ichigo pinned to the wall. He lowered his head to where Ichigo's neck and shoulder met and sunk his teeth into him, feeling the kid squirm in his arms. He pulled away to get a look at Ichigo's horrified face. Grimmjow couldn't contain himself any longer, he busted out laughing. "Aw fuck, you should see your face."

"What the fuck are you doing, biting me!" Ichigo yelled at him, shoving him off.

"Ah come on, for just a second you were fucking scared I was gonna suck your blood or some shit," Grimmjow laughed.

Ichigo punched him in the gut and walked away.

Damn, the kid hits hard, Grimmjow thought, bent over. He was still smiling though. I probably should've kissed him instead of biting him, but sometimes I just can't help myself.

* * *

Nnoitra was failing to drink Shiro under the table, Ichigo and Renji were laughing in their booth, trying to pretend that they didn't notice Shuuhei and Kira holding hands under the table, and Grimmjow was buying himself another drink. His eyes widened when he saw the man, split seconds before shots rang out.

"Everyone down!" the man yelled.

Grimmjow hunkered down with everyone else. He looked over to the fat sloppy man who had been sitting not too far from him at the bar.

"Hey...pssst...Omaeda," Grimmjow whispered to him. The cop looked over.

"If you're gonna follow me around at least make yourself useful," Grimmjow told him. "I know you have a weapon."

Omaeda ignored him.

"You stupid fat fuck," Grimmjow growled. He had finally figured out who the man holding up the place was and things weren't good. He stood up, slowly.

"Hey you! Get down!" the gunman turned towards Grimmjow.

"Are you kidding? You know what's on this floor? It's pretty gross," Grimmjow said, his hands held out high and wide as he tried to be as non threatening as possible.

"On the floor or I'll shoot you!"

"You know, it's pretty stupid to rob a place like this. I mean, aside from the all the people there's all of the surveillance," Grimmjow mentioned. "There's cameras all over the place. I mean there's one..." he pointed at a camera. The gunman looked over at it. "Two..." Grimmjow pointed again. "And three..." he said, pointing behind the man. The man turned slightly. Grimmjow casually picked up a chair and broke it over his head. The man stumbled and dropped his weapon.

"Police! Freeze!" Omaeda was up finally, pointing his gun at the now unarmed and dazed would be robber.

"No, you freeze," a voice from behind Omaeda said. Omaeda turned his head very slowly, eye to eye with the business end of gun. Shit, Grimmjow thought, there was two of them. "Throw down the gun and back away," the man ordered Omaeda. Omaeda nodded and did as he was told.

"Put the weapon down and put your hands on your head," Ichigo said out of nowhere.

The man was facing sideways from Ichigo.

"And don't think, 'oh I'll just turn and shoot him'," Ichigo continued, the gunman's original gun in his hand.

"Look, just because you picked a gun off the floor doesn't mean you know how to use it, kid," the man said, not turning yet.

"This is a Beretta M9A1 Pistol, used by the US Marines. It's semi-automatic with a 3 dot sight system," Ichigo leveled the weapon and took aim. "And if you think that I can't put at least one of it's 15 rounds into your overblown head then you're not thinking clearly."

Grimmjow was having trouble keeping his jaw closed.

The man gently lowered his weapon. Omaeda got some zip-strips from his pocket and restrained both men, while calling codes into his phone.

"Please take this from me," Ichigo said to Grimmjow, holding out the gun like it was snake.

"Why the hell do you know so much about guns?" Grimmjow asked, his eyes wide.

"Actually, I've never held one before. I just play a lot of video games," Ichigo said.

"Are you shitting me?"

"Naw, serious. Look, I'm shaking," Ichigo held out his hand.

"Holy fuck, Ichigo," Renji said, coming up.

The group sat together waiting for all of the reports to be taken. Ichigo finally came back to the table with a wan grin. "Sorry guys," he said.

"That was pretty brave," Grimmjow told him.

"Stupid really," Ichigo laughed.

"Yeah, most of the time they look like the same thing."

"I was just trying to stay out of the way but once the cop was out of it...for some reason I grabbed the gun. It was just sitting there," Ichigo said.

"Usually it's a not really a good idea to get involved with this crap but this guy...I know him. He would've killed someone even if we all cooperated," Grimmjow said. "He likes taking hostages with him and shooting them later."

"Hey babe, you almost died. You wouldn't want to go home to an empty bed, would you?" Nnoitra asked Shiro, his arm around the albino.

"That is a terrible line," Ichigo told him.

"Not drunk enough," Shiro responded.

Grimmjow pulled Ichigo away from the table. "Hey, I gotta go and talk to the cops. Probably they'll wanna yell at me a lot."

"Weird night, huh?" Ichigo told him.

"Yeah. And uh, sorry about my friend," Grimmjow nodded toward Nnoitra.

"Naw, Shiro likes him. They'll most likely spend the night together."

"Really?"

"Yeah, if Shiro didn't like him he would've broken something by now," Ichigo replied.

That night Grimmjow went over the night in his mind. He recalled in vivid detail Ichigo, gun in hand. Who is the kid really? I mean, no one, right? I'll have to have Nnoitra run a background check on him tomorrow. He grinned to himself. If Ichigo was right, then calling Nnoitra anytime before noon was going to piss him off. Grimmjow set his alarm for 8:30am, just to make sure to call Nnoitra nice and early.

Why the hell did Grimmjow know so much about the gunman? Ichigo wondered as he tried and failed to get to sleep. Why does he have cops trailing him? Obviously they don't do that to everyone they have on house arrest.


	3. Detained

**Detained**

**

* * *

**

"So, is it natural?" Grimmjow asked Ichigo.

"You know, I'm trying to work here," Ichigo complained, pretending to organize receipts. He absently hoped some real customer would come in so Grimmjow would stop annoying him.

"I just had to come by and see you in your apron again," Grimmjow said, leaning over the counter to get closer to Ichigo.

Grimmjow didn't like to lose. Even though his instincts were telling him to move on to someone a little more pliable, his pride wouldn't let him.

"Yes, my hair is natural, and no I'm not going to prove it," Ichigo finally answered.

"Well mine is natural too and I'll definitely prove it," Grimmjow grinned.

"Your hair is not...come here," Ichigo pulling the man close, grabbing onto his shirt. He ran his fingers through Grimmjow's hair.

Out of the many things that Grimmjow really enjoyed, having his hair played with was one of them. Stroked, pulled, whatever, he just liked it. "Mmm," Grimmjow practically purred.

"What are you, a damn cat?" Ichigo said, pushing the man away. He frowned. He hadn't seen any roots. How in the world did someone get that color hair?

"Ichigo," a deep voice boomed from the front of the store.

"Coach Zaraki, how can I help you?" Ichigo asked.

"You know how," the man replied.

Grimmjow was eyeballing the man. Damn, he's taller than me, he noticed. He looks even taller with that damn spiked hair. Who the hell is this jack off? Grimmjow didn't like the intense way the man was looking at Ichigo.

"Not interested, Kenpachi," Ichigo said.

"I'll definitely make it worth your while," Kenpachi offered.

"The kid is busy," Grimmjow stated.

"I have to get something from the back," Ichigo stated, leaving the two men abruptly.

"If you're a coach you should know you probably shouldn't be hitting on a student," Grimmjow said hypocritically.

"You thought I trying to get him on a date?" Kenpachi laughed. "I'm just trying to get him out of that rinky dink school of his and go to Seireitei instead. He's a world class athlete, I don't know why he ain't living up to his potential. He's got grit and drive like none of my other players."

"Oh," Grimmjow said lamely.

"You think dating him would help?" Kenpachi wondered.

"What the fuck, I wasn't trying to give you ideas!" Grimmjow yelled.

"And exactly how would you stop me?" Kenpachi grinned.

"Out, both of you," Ichigo said, having come back.

They both frowned at the boy.

Well, if he's here, he isn't at home, Grimmjow considered. "See ya around, Ichigo," he waved as he walked out the door.

* * *

Grimmjow was sitting in Ichigo's studio apartment, staring at his computer screen. His fingers weren't moving. Since when did I get a conscience? Grimmjow groaned to himself. Why the hell do I feel bad about this? He lightly tapped the keyboard a couple of times, not typing anything. He's just some college kid, am I really gonna do something that could get him in serious trouble?

Having just spent two years locked up himself he knew what the kid would be in for.

Stupid stupid stupid, Grimmjow told himself. But still he stood up and decided to leave. He closed the door behind him and walked down the hall.

"Professor Jaegerjaques?" Ichigo asked.

"Uh," Grimmjow's mind went blank for a moment. "Well you can call me Grimmjow," he said cockily. Shit, I'm in so much...uhhh, Grimmjow groaned as he felt Ichigo's lips on his. Ichigo was pressing him into the hallway wall, his body flush against his, his hands in Grimmjow's hair as he kissed him passionately. "F-fuck kid," he got out, as Ichigo moved down to his neck. Grimmjow was enjoying finally getting to grab that tight ass he'd been watching, pulling Ichigo even tighter against him.

Ichigo pulled away, his arms still around Grimmjow, pulling him towards his door. They were barely inside by the time Ichigo had Grimmjow's shirt off and was pushing him towards his futon. Grimmjow groaned as Ichigo shoved him roughly down, pinning him into the cushion with his hips, rocking against him. Ichigo leaned down to give Grimmjow another kiss. "Be right back, I need to grab something," Ichigo told him. Grimmjow nodded.

He closed his eyes for a second and tried to calm his breathing. What the hell had come over the kid? Grimmjow hadn't expected him to taste so sweet and to be so demanding. It had been too long since he'd been this damn horny and...his eyes widened. He moved forward but heard the click. He starting moving his left hand quickly but it was too late for that as well. He heard another click.

Well fuck. "Guess you're into some pretty kinky stuff, huh?" Grimmjow gave a wan grin, forcing himself to not struggle.

Ichigo was sitting on his computer chair with his arms crossed, watching Grimmjow intently. "You'll noticed those handcuffs aren't silk or satin or velvet or any shit. Those are the real deal," Ichigo said.

I can't even sit up from this position, Grimmjow thought glumly. I'm just half naked spread eagle on my back. Each of his hands were pinned to the metal frame of the futon with handcuffs, his arms wide.

"So, uh, no sex then?" Grimmjow asked with a grin.

Ichigo just glared at him. "I guess you're the person who broke into my place the first time too, huh?"

"Why don't you let me go and we can talk?"

"No."

Grimmjow grimaced. "Who the hell are you, kid?"

"Do you really want to know?" Ichigo asked, his eyes sparkling. "I'm part of the NSA working in a display of international cooperation with the Japanese police as part of the cyber crime division."

Oh holy fuck, Grimmjow thought. Damn it...shit...he licked his lips nervously and tried to think of a way out of his situation.

Ichigo's head went back and he laughed, hard. "You ought to see your face," Ichigo said with a smile.

"What?"

"Way better than 'I'm a vampire', right?" Ichigo said.

"You...you were shitting me?" Grimmjow groaned.

"How old do you think I even am? Of course I'm kidding," Ichigo replied. "You're pretty stupid for someone supposedly a professor. And since you're not really a professor, tell me who you are."

"Just some guy that got into trouble. Nothing special," Grimmjow said. "Why do you have handcuffs if you're just some kid?"

"Because you're right, I am kinky, and I had a boyfriend who liked to play cops," Ichigo replied.

Ichigo came over to him, sitting on his legs and reaching for his pants.

"We still gonna play?" Grimmjow asked.

"Yeah right, you stalker," Ichigo said, finding Grimmjow's wallet in his back pocket. He sighed and threw it to the side.

"Weren't you even going to look through it?"

"What's the point? You obviously don't seem worried that I got it," Ichigo said.

Grimmjow frowned. He was starting to get nervous again. Ichigo rummaged in Grimmjow's pockets again and got his phone. He jumped off of Grimmjow and sat back in his computer chair.

"That's not going to help you at all," Grimmjow told him.

"Oh what, just because it's password protected?" Ichigo asked. "Oh no, whatever will I do?" he smiled.

Yeah, I really should've hacked this little brat's computer, Grimmjow thought vindictively.

Ichigo looked at the log in screen on the phone. "Like I said, you're sure stupid." He held out the phone for Grimmjow to look at. "You're running on version 3.4 not 3.5. They just released the update last week and I guess you're just a lazy bastard. Do you know why they had a new update?"

Grimmjow ignored him. I'm not going to play any of his stupid games, he thought.

"There was a major security issue," Ichigo grinned. "You should have updated." Ichigo grabbed a couple of tools and popped open the phone. He set the battery on his computer desk. "It's pretty amazing how small they can get memory now, isn't it?" He asked Grimmjow, holding up a small chip admiringly.

"Yeah, one of the wonders of the modern world," Grimmjow said sarcastically. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Ever reset the bios on a computer?" Ichigo asked.

Grimmjow smiled. "Oh yeah, I'm sure the factory presets are gonna help you so much in whatever the hell you're trying to do."

Ichigo was reassembling the phone, putting the memory and battery back in. He waited for a couple of minutes for the operating system to come back online. He grinned and read the message out loud, "There seems to have been an error. Would you like to restore your information?"

"What?" Grimmjow asked.

Ichigo hit yes and after a couple of moments was browsing through Grimmjow's phone.

"What the hell kind of security is that?" Grimmjow yelled.

"Get with the program old man, phones might even wipe out personal computers in the near future," Ichigo said. "This phone is way more powerful than whatever room sized computers you had when you were a kid."

"What the...how old do you think I am?" Grimmjow was outraged. "I'm not that much older than you!"

Ichigo held the phone to his ear.

"Who are you calling?" Grimmjow asked.

"Don't know, you only have numbers with no names," Ichigo shrugged.

Grimmjow bit his lip.

"Hello?" a man answered the phone. Ichigo recognized the voice. What was the name...oh yeah... "Grimmjow, what the hell do you want?" the man asked.

"Nnoitra?" Ichigo said.

There was stunned silence on the other end. Now was the time for the act. Ichigo collected himself and then spoke again, this time with panic in his voice. "Nnoitra! Grimmjow is at my place...he...something happened to him, he's bloody...but he won't let me take him to the hospital. I don't...I'm not sure..."

He heard Nnoitra cursing on the other side. "Hold tight, I'll be there. Don't call anyone else." Ichigo hung up.

Grimmjow was looking at him with wide eyes. "Exactly what are you planning, kid?"

* * *

What the hell has Grimmjow gotten himself into this time? Nnoitra wondered, quickly moving his lanky frame down the hall.

"Nnoitra!" Ichigo called out to him from in front of his apartment.

Nnoitra walked in through the door. He knew he had made a critical mistake both when he saw Grimmjow chained to the futon, and when he felt a blade slide alongside his neck from behind.

"Take it easy, Nnoitra," Grimmjow told him.

"Yeah," Nnoitra agreed.

"Go over there and sit with him," Ichigo said from behind.

Nnoitra sat down. His eyes widened when he saw what had been pressed against him. "You freaking got me with a katana?" he was pissed. Ichigo shrugged. He sheathed the weapon put it on it's holder on the wall.

"So uh...what's up?" Nnoitra asked.

"Who the hell are you guys?"

"We're just a couple of regular guys," Grimmjow said. "We used to work for a telecom company. They paid us crap and worked us hard, so I embezzled some money from them. I got caught, was thrown in jail for a little while, and now I'm doing community service and am on house arrest."

"Why house arrest for something like embezzling?"

"You know I got a mouth on me. I pissed off some cops, not to mention got into a few fights when I was away," Grimmjow said.

"So you guys are really just going to lie to me?" Ichigo said.

"Hell, I don't even know why I'm here," Nnoitra said.

"Because you're the person he calls the most, asshole." Ichigo sighed. "Look, you didn't seem the least bit amazed that somehow Grimmjow was bloody at my apartment, or that he didn't want to go to the hospital, and you somehow already knew exactly where I lived. I sincerely doubt that you're just office workers who pissed off someone in a high place."

Neither of the two on the futon spoke.

"Look, in all honesty I don't really care, just stop following me and tell everyone else to stop following me too," Ichigo said angrily.

"What?" Grimmjow asked.

Ichigo walked over to his closed window blinds. "Over there, on the corner, on the fifth floor, there's someone always watching me," he pointed in the general direction. "Out in front there's always a car waiting for me. After school I'm followed. At work, weird people come in. Just stop it. I don't really care just leave me alone," he said.

Grimmjow exchanged a glance with Nnoitra, who gave the smallest of shrugs.

Ichigo sighed and threw Grimmjow his shirt. He unlocked the cuffs. Grimmjow sat up, rubbing at his wrists. Ichigo tossed him his phone. "Don't forget your wallet," he said.

"You're just letting us go?" Nnoitra asked.

"What the hell did you think I was going to do? Torture you? If you're not going to answer my questions, you're not going to answer my questions. Now get out."

* * *

They were at Grimmjow's place, drinking sake. Grimmjow was on the phone.

"Detective Shihoin," Grimmjow said into the receiver.

"Aw honey, you can just call me Yoruichi," the woman replied.

"Yeah, because you like me so very much," Grimmjow laughed.

"What do you want?"

"Tell Officer Ochi to lay off the kid. He's just a student I'm playing around with, nothing more."

"What kid?"

"Ichigo Kurosaki," Grimmjow answered.

"I'm not aware of any order to follow any of your students. I'll check with Soifon but I doubt she would have done it without letting me know."

"Are you lying to me?" Grimmjow asked.

"Oh you know me, I'd only lie to your face. Over the phone is so impersonal."

"No luck?" Nnoitra asked after Grimmjow hung up.

"Naw. She says there's nothing on the kid."

"He is so playing you," Nnoitra said.

"What do you mean?"

"Look, just because his background came up clean doesn't mean anything, It could have been scrubbed, things could have been left off...all I'm saying is that some punk ass kid doesn't just catch the two of us with our pants around our ankles."

Grimmjow ran his hand through his hair roughly. "Damn it."

"Regardless, you need to back off him."

"No shit, Nnoitra. I'm not brain dead."


	4. Kidnapped

**Kidnapped**

**

* * *

**

It took a moment after Grimmjow sat down to notice them, but once he felt the cold steel he jerk his hand away to see a pair of handcuffs just hanging off of one of the arms of his chair. That dumbass kid, Grimmjow thought angrily. Actually, handcuffs might be useful...

Ichigo had managed to barely restrain his grin when Grimmjow saw the handcuffs, but he wound up frowning when Grimmjow looked up at him with a knowing smirk.

Grimmjow waited until the students were working before he came up to Ichigo. He leaned close to him and said, "I'm not sure what you were planning on doing with the handcuffs but I was thinking that maybe I could cuff you to the desk, bend you over, and just...ow!"

"Sorry, did I roll over your foot?" Ichigo asked innocently, moving his computer chair back towards the computer.

As the students filed out, Grimmjow pulled one of the them aside. "Hisagi, can I talk to you?" he asked.

Kira stopped too. "I'll meet you outside," Shuuhei told him. Kira nodded.

"How long have you known Kurosaki?" Grimmjow questioned.

"What? Um, well since middle school," Shuuhei said.

"All of you have been friends that long?"

"Well, Renji knew him even earlier," Shuuhei replied.

"Did he ever get into trouble or have to go away for long periods of time or anything like that?"

"Professor, I'm not sure..."

Grimmjow glared at him. Shuuhei swallowed. "No. He was really into Karate and Kendo, scored in the top 20, and did just normal stuff. He was always good with computers. He sometimes got into fights because kids would hassle him about his hair, but he never got into too much trouble."

"Thanks. You can go," Grimmjow dismissed him.

Everything I find out just points to him being some normal kid, he thought.. Grimmjow had stopped by the Kurosaki Clinic and flirted with the receptionist there, finding mostly the same information. Twin sisters, wacky dad, dead mom, and a smarter and stronger than average kid who sometimes got into fist fights.

So I'm missing what here? Grimmjow wondered.

* * *

A couple of days later his office door swung open. Grimmjow wasn't usually in his office but he had a couple of hours to kill before class.

"Ichigo, what do you want?" he kept his voice cool, even though he could clearly see panic in Ichigo's face.

"Please, please help me," Ichigo said.

"Trouble on a project?" Grimmjow replied lightly.

"They took Shiro," Ichigo told him.

Grimmjow blinked.

"'They' being who?" he asked.

"I don't know. I'm supposed to meet with them tonight and I don't know what to do," Ichigo put a hand to Grimmjow shoulder. "Please, you have to help me."

"This is pretty serious, you should call the cops."

"They told me not too."

"Ichigo, I've worked in an office my whole life. I have no idea what to do in a situation like this. I'm not sure what you're expecting of me," Grimmjow said.

"You...don't care?" Ichigo asked, his voice passionate.

"It's not that I don't care, it's just that I really can't help you. I'm not sure what is it you and your friend are into, gangs or whatever, but you should probably go to the police."

"Grimmjow!" Ichigo yelled at him. "He's my cousin! This is your fault!"

Grimmjow frowned. "I don't see why."

Ichigo growled and slammed the door closed.

Grimmjow ran a hand across his face and took a large drink of his coffee. Shit. Is he telling the truth? If he is...is this really my fault? Am I going to get a couple of kids killed? This is exactly the sort of thing that can draw me out though. There's no way for me to help without revealing myself. Maybe he's just pulling my chain, like he did before with the NSA bullshit...assuming that was bullshit.

Grimmjow was surprised to find Ichigo in class. It was a joke then. He wouldn't be here otherwise, Grimmjow thought. Class was dismissed, but Ichigo didn't get up to leave. He waited until everyone else was gone and then slowly got up. He walked to the door and locked it.

"Ichigo, what are you doing?" Grimmjow asked.

"I thought you said that you wanted to bend me over the desk and fuck me?" Ichigo said, walking towards him slowly.

"Yeah right, you little..."

Grimmjow was still in his chair and Ichigo bent over, catching his lips and passionately kissing him. It didn't take long for Grimmjow to kiss him back heatedly, pulling on his hips. Ichigo allowed himself to be pulled onto Grimmjow's lap, spreading his legs and straddling him. Grimmjow groaned.

"You're such a fucking bipolar brat," Grimmjow said as Ichigo bit at his neck. He rubbed his hand up the inside of Ichigo's shirt and Ichigo ground himself down into Grimmjow's quickly hardening erection. "And this isn't really a good place for this."

"You must want me bad if you've been stalking me for so long," Ichigo whispered before catching Grimmjow's earlobe in his teeth.

"Let's go someplace that doesn't have giant open windows," Grimmjow suggested, hoping to get away to a more private place before his hormones made him throw caution to the wind.

"I need you to help me first," Ichigo said lowly.

"Oh yeah?" Grimmjow grinned.

"Help me get my cousin back."

Grimmjow froze. "What?"

"Shiro," Ichigo told him.

"I know who the hell you're talking about but what do you mean you want me to get him back?" Grimmjow pulled Ichigo's face away for he could look at it. He looked into Ichigo's eyes. There was the same desperation that there had been earlier in his office. "Fuck...Ichigo..."

"Grimmjow, please..."

Grimmjow pushed Ichigo off of him and stood up. "Ichigo, there's nothing I can do."

He could practically feel the emotions rolling off of Ichigo. He looked away. "Damn it!" Ichigo yelled at him, punching the computer desk. "Don't you understand that..."

"You should leave," Grimmjow told him.

There was silence. Ichigo put something into his hand. "If you get a fucking soul by tonight, this is where I'm going to be," he said angrily.

It was a good ten minutes later before Grimmjow let himself look at the paper. It was an address in the warehouse district and a time. Don't do it Grimmjow, he argued with himself. Didn't Nnoitra say that he was playing you? Damn it, there has to be a way to do this without blowing it all to hell...

He sighed and grabbed his cell phone out of his pocket.

"Hello?"

"Nnoitra, are you still fucking that albino?"

"Shiro? Ha, that kid's crazy! Yeah, we see each other sometimes," Nnoitra said.

"I know you don't like people taking things that belong to you."

"What?" Nnoitra's voice went into a lower register. "Where are you? Is someone trying to get into his pants?"

"No, someone nabbed him."

"They what?"

* * *

"We're gonna die," Nnoitra said to Grimmjow.

"Shut up. Can you see Ichigo?"

"Yes. Yer plan is stupid and we're going to die."

"And what is your plan exactly?"

"Jump in, kill them all, go home happy," Nnoitra said.

"That how all your plans go."

"It's worked so far."

"Oh yeah, and how would you explain your actions to Shiro?" Grimmjow asked.

"I'd tell him I'm yakuza and that he should stop asking stupid questions."

"And when the cops tracking me come?"

"Oh, I'd be long gone by then," Nnoitra grinned.

"Tough luck for me, huh?"

"Tough luck for you," Nnoitra agreed.

"We're doing it my way."

* * *

"Did you come alone?" the man asked Ichigo. Ichigo nodded. His hands were on his head as someone patted him down. The man confirmed something into his phone.

Ichigo could see Shiro, tied to a chair with a bag over his head.

"Is he ok?" Ichigo asked.

The man closest to Shiro took off the bag and removed the gag that was tightly bounding Shiro's mouth. Shiro looked up at Ichigo, looking none the worse for wear aside from a fat lip. Ichigo had to assume Shiro had mouthed off to get it. Lord knows how many times he had punched him for the same thing.

"What the hell did you do this time?" Shiro asked.

"Nothing," Ichigo answered. "Don't worry about it."

Shiro was released. He stood slowly, trying to get the blood flowing back into his legs. "Man I gotta piss," he said. He had no intention of leaving Ichigo with these gun wielding freaks so he took as long as possible, trying to figure something out. Ichigo caught his eye and looked to the beam that was just next to Shiro. Shiro casually looked over at it, looking up to where it met the ceiling crossbeams. He wondered what Ichigo was up to. The lights suddenly went out in the warehouse and Shiro didn't think, just bolted for the beam and shimmied up it. He'd always been amazing at climbing trees. Ichigo dove behind a stand of boxes and crawled on his belly under one of the nearby cars.

There was a buzzing noise and the emergency power lights flickered on, casting the room with shadows.

"Uh, hi!" Grimmjow said, casually walked towards the group of men.

"Don't move!" they focused their weapons on him.

Sirens started blaring, getting louder by the instant. "I might have called the cops," Grimmjow told them.

It only took a moment for the men to bolt, jumping into the two closest black sedans and taking off. Ichigo rolled out quickly before they left, Grimmjow's eyes going wide as he saw him.

"Shit Ichigo, bad place to hide," Grimmjow grinned. "Nnoitra," he called out. The lights powered back on and the sirens stopped.

"What...you did that?" Ichigo asked.

"Uh yeah. Like I said, I'm not really good with this type of stuff, but we hacked into this place's power grid and set up a couple of cheap speakers outside," Grimmjow said.

"Did ya see those pussies run?" Shiro laughed, sliding down from his beam on the ceiling.

"Like a damn cat," Nnoitra said with a smile.

"Ya came for me?" Shiro asked.

"Well of course."

"Well ya could've come sooner you bastard!" Shiro yelled, punching Nnoitra in the gut.

"What the hell, you should be happy I came at all!" Nnoitra said.

"I could've been raped like 20 times by now!"

Nnoitra frowned. "Uh...you weren't, were ya?"

"Of course not! Ya think I would've let 'em run away like whiny babies if they had touched me!"

"Thanks," Ichigo said as they drove home.

"Yeah, well you owe me," Grimmjow told him.

"Oh...yes..." Nnoitra moaned from the back seat. Grimmjow tilted his rear view window to see Shiro's head in his lap.

"Hey! What the fuck! We're like two minutes from your house!" Grimmjow yelled at the couple behind him.

Ichigo turned to looked and then quickly turned forward again, slightly blushing.

"Hey! I mean it!" Grimmjow said. He turned to see the couple making out, but happily now at least moderately keeping their hands...mouths...to themselves. He stopped in front of Nnoitra's apartment complex. "Out," he ordered. "And make sure your dick in your pants before you flash the neighborhood."

The two of them drove in silence to Ichigo's place. Grimmjow looked over at Ichigo. "I don't suppose I get any love, huh?" He asked hopefully. Ichigo grinned at him. He placed his hand on Grimmjow's knee, slowly caressing his inner thigh, moving his hand higher. Grimmjow tried to keep his eyes on the road as Ichigo got closer and closer to his crotch. Ichigo suddenly stopped, sitting back in his chair and crossing his arms.

"Nope," Ichigo said with an impish grin.

"No...wait, no what?" Grimmjow looked back over at the kid, and seeing the mischievousness in his eyes. He groaned. "Damn it kid, you're the worst tease I've ever met."

They were at Ichigo's street now.

"You do owe me at least one thing," Grimmjow said.

"What's that?"

"An explanation of why they wanted you."

Ichigo didn't answer.

"Hey, I just went in and saved your ass."

"You...didn't have any guns or anything. You just talked to them," Ichigo said.

"Well what the hell did you think I was going to do? I already told you you think I'm someone I'm not," Grimmjow replied.

"Ok, I'll tell you, but out here. I'm not sure about my place anymore," Ichigo said.

Grimmjow waited.

"Have you ever heard about Hogyoku Encryption?" Ichigo asked.

"Yeah." It was supposedly the most complex and unbreakable encryption method for computing ever devised. It had a complex variable system that changed from second to second and was completely different for every single user. There were lots of rumors about how it worked; that it ran off of DNA sequences, that it ran off of star movements, that it ran off of purely theoretical math. The man who had written it, Kisuke Urahara, has disappeared shortly after writing it. It wasn't something that people really knew about, it was just the one of those legends that went around hacking communities. Except that Grimmjow knew for a fact that the upper echelons of the Japanese government used it.

"Well..." Ichigo looked over with a small smile. "I cracked it."

Grimmjow laughed. "Well, if that were true, your sure as hell wouldn't still be here."

"Well, I didn't really think anyone had found me...except...well you know there's always a way of finding someone," Ichigo said. "Then I was put into a class with you of all people. Like that's not suspicious. You freaking followed me around, going through my stuff – and then these other people start following me. Even with Shiro, they just wanted me. They didn't hurt him or anything, they don't want to hurt me. They just want me."

"Whatever you say, kid," Grimmjow grinned at him. "Can I at least get a goodnight kiss?"

Ichigo leaned over, kissing him gently, his fingers lightly threading through his hair. Grimmjow didn't open his eyes as Ichigo pulled away and closed the car door. That kiss had been...Grimmjow's eyes widened.

"Hey wait a minute! You said this was my fault and now you just admitted it's yours!" he yelled in his empty car. "You trick guilted me into helping you!"

The kid had to be lying. If he wasn't, well...Grimmjow would've known about it. Besides, those guys back there were barely professional, he thought to himself. But then, why?


	5. Drugged

**Drugged**

_A/N: I'm in a good mood because after months of unemployment I now have to decide which company I want to work for! It's a good problem to have...but no matter what I'll be moving all the way across the country. What I want to know is, if they all wanted me, then why wait to all doing this silly competitive offer thing now? I would have worked for doughnuts before, but now I'm getting a big head. What do I do for a living? It kind of has to do with this fic =) (and no I don't run around shooting people)._

_

* * *

_

"I had a dream about you last night," Grimmjow whispered into Ichigo's ear.

Ichigo rolled his eyes. "I swear you're the worst professor ever."

"I don't know, from what I can see you're doing pretty good on your project," Grimmjow said, looking at his screen.

"That's because I'm awesome, not because you are," Ichigo grinned at him.

"One day I'm going to fuck the cockiness right out of you," Grimmjow said lowly. "And don't pretend that didn't just turn you on a little."

"Professor Jaegerjaques?" Kira asked. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, be right there."

* * *

Ichigo set his pack on the stone bench as he looked for his water bottle. He grabbed it out and took a drink.

"Why hello there, Ichigo," Gin said, walking up.

"Hey," Ichigo replied, trying to act casual even though he always felt slightly nervous around the man.

"How are your classes?"

"They're going good," Ichigo answered.

The two chatted for a couple of minutes.

"Oh well, looks like you have company," Gin said with a grin. He waved and left.

"What?" Ichigo turned. "Who..."

* * *

Grimmjow was looking out over his empty classroom absently when the color pink caught his eye. He quickly turned his head, meeting the man's eyes through the glass as he bent over Ichigo's slumping body.

Fuck! Grimmjow thought, bolting through the door and running outside. He had briefly considering just going straight out the window.

Szayel hadn't waited around for him to show up, leaving Ichigo laying on the bench.

"Ichigo! Ichigo!" Grimmjow yelled at him, putting his head to the boy's chest. He could still hear a heartbeat, which calmed him, but only slightly.

He slung Ichigo's pack over one shoulder, and Ichigo over the other. There, he thought, seeing some college student in a corner bent over his cell phone, tapping out a text message. Grimmjow looked around quickly for witnesses, then stalked behind the student quietly and punched him in the back of the head. The student made a noise pain and fell forward, slamming his head into the wall before slipping down to the ground. Grimmjow picked up the cell phone and made a call.

"Who the hell is this?" Nnoitra asked.

"I was hoping we could go to the movies," Grimmjow said.

"What time?"

"If you hurry and pick me up in front the school we can just make it," Grimmjow replied.

"I'll be there."

Grimmjow seriously hoped this wasn't one of those days that a police officer decided to follow him around. He looked around for Omaeda or Ochi but didn't see either. He tried hanging back in the trees until he saw Nnoitra's car.

Nnoitra didn't say anything as Grimmjow lay Ichigo in the back seat.

"There's a hotel just up the street," Grimmjow mentioned.

"Yeah, saw it on the way here," Nnoitra replied.

Grimmjow opened up Nnoitra's glove box and took out a device. He attached a small clamp with a plus to one end of the poor college student's phone, and another with a minus to the other. He hit a button and the smell of burned electronics filled the car. Grimmjow opened the car window and tossed the phone into the street.

"So you finally just got too horny or what?" Nnoitra asked.

"Shut up," Grimmjow replied. "It was Szayel."

Nnoitra looked over at him. "And you thought it was a good idea to just nab him from Szayel?"

"It was just a gut reaction," Grimmjow admitted. "I half expected him to be dead. God knows what Szayel injected him with."

Nnoitra waited around the back while Grimmjow got the room.

"Ya should've put something over that hair o' yers," Nnoitra told him as they went up the elevator.

"It's not going to matter anyways," Grimmjow. said Nnoitra just looked at him and Grimmjow pointed at his ankle monitor. Nnoitra laughed and opened the door to their hotel room.

"Shit, he's shaking," Grimmjow put his hands to Ichigo's face. "He's freezing." He ripped the bedspread off of one of the beds and wrapped Ichigo in it. He sat on the couch holding Ichigo, rubbing his shoulders.

"Well shit, we usually just call Szayel for stuff like this," Nnoitra said.

"Yeah," Grimmjow replied. "Hey, Ichigo!"

Ichigo opened his eyes, although they were glazed and unfocused. "Grimmjow?"

"Better than 'professor'," Grimmjow grinned at him.

"I'm cold," Ichigo said.

Grimmjow pulled him onto his lap and wrapped his arms around him. "I'll heat you up."

"And no attacking me you pervert!" Ichigo said.

"Scouts honor," Grimmjow answered.

"Like you were ever a scout."

"So what did he get dosed with ya think?" Nnoitra wondered.

"How do you feel?" Grimmjow asked Ichigo.

"Cold, sleepy," Ichigo said, snuggling up against Grimmjow.

Grimmjow smiled.

"Oh don't get too happy. He's being way too docile," Nnoitra rolled his eyes.

Grimmjow put his finger to one of Ichigo's eyelids and look at how dilated Ichigo's eyes were. "Hm...you know you look cute like this don't you?"

"Mmm," Ichigo said, not really answering.

"Yeah, he's dopey," Nnoitra said.

Grimmjow remembered what Ichigo had told him earlier in the car. Had he been telling the truth? For Szayel to be after him... "I think he'll be fine. They probably just wanted to question him and gave him something to make him more pliable," Grimmjow said.

"What the hell did he do to get Szayel sticking him full needles?" Nnoitra asked.

"Let's find out," Grimmjow grinned. "Hey, Ichigo, babe, wanna answer a couple of questions?"

"If he remembers this he's gonna clock ya when he snaps out of this," Nnoitra told him.

"He ain't gonna remember. You went through almost the exact same thing and didn't remember shit."

Nnoitra frowned. "Ya didn't do anything to me, did ya?"

"Didn't have time, you were all full of holes and bleeding out anyways," Grimmjow replied. He looked back to Ichigo. "Did you really figure out how Hogyoku Encryption works?"

"Yup," Ichigo said nodded happily.

"Shit," Nnoitra said.

"Are you working for any government agencies?"

"No," Ichigo replied.

"Are you after me or Nnoitra?"

"I don't even know who the hell you two are," Ichigo said. "Is Grimmjow even really your name? I mean, it's weird, right? Both of your names...weird..."

"So you're just some smartass kid?" Grimmjow asked.

"I certainly wouldn't say that," Ichigo replied.

"How much do you know?" Nnoitra said.

"Oh, you mean what did I learn after I cracked Hogyoku? Hell, I learned everything. I didn't even know what I was getting into, just thought it was challenging and I...I'm really into freedom of information. I thought I could just post it all online. I thought that people should know how their governments worked. Stuff...happened though..."

"Everything?" Grimmjow asked. "I find that hard to believe."

"Japan, the US, France, Germany, and the UK all use Hogyoku Encryption. China uses Antikythera code...I haven't take a look at that but I since I've cracked the hardest code in the word, I don't think it will be a problem," Ichigo said. "

"Is your brain leaking out your ears, Ichigo!" Grimmjow said angrily. "Don't you know how dangerous knowing all this stuff is? I'm surprised you don't have a bullet in your brain already."

"Like two people know," Ichigo said. "Two people I really trust. I mean, they're not really trustworthy in general, but they are about stuff like this. I've trusted them with my life before. It'll be ok."

"It obviously ain't," Grimmjow growled.

Ichigo yawned and ruffled Grimmjow's hair, then snuggled deeper into his blanket.

"Don't you fucking look at him like that," Nnoitra warned.

"Shut up."

"Look, if Szayel is in on this and he saw you, which he did, there's no reason for that phone next to you to not ring with an order to capture or kill this kid," Nnoitra said. "See? You're holding him tighter now. You think that's going to help?"

Ichigo was looking completely peaceful, just watching Grimmjow's face.

"Are you saying that if you got an order to put a bullet in Shiro you'd just do it?" Grimmjow growled.

"Sure. I wouldn't even think about it, just do it," Nnoitra said.

"Don't lie to me and think you can get away with it."

Nnoitra's eyes narrowed. "Yea well it's a little different considering Shiro and I actually have a thing going and Ichigo hates ya."

"He does not hate me."

"If he were awake he'd be strangling you right now," Nnoitra said.

"I'm awake," Ichigo replied.

"Well, awake and not off in lala land."

"You like me, right Ichigo?" Grimmjow asked.

"Sure," Ichigo said.

Grimmjow gave a wide grin. "And what do you like about me?"

"Oh my god I'm leaving before I become a woman," Nnoitra said standing up.

"Hey, I'm not the one that drugged him. No reason for me not to use it for my advantage," Grimmjow shrugged.

"I like your voice," Ichigo said.

"And?" Grimmjow pushed.

"Your hair, your eyes, your jawline, how..."

"I'll be on the balcony while you're getting your ego stroked," Nnoitra said with disgust.

* * *

"Damn it, stop cuddling with him," Nnoitra pushing Grimmjow awake a couple of hours later.

"You still doing ok, Ichigo?" Grimmjow said.

"A little better," Ichigo replied.

"Obviously not completely better since Grimmjow doesn't have a black eye," Nnoitra snorted.

"I saved you," Grimmjow told Ichigo. "Do you remember what happened?"

"I was talking to Gin Ichimaru..." Ichigo said as he thought.

"...well there's yer problem," Nnoitra said. "Don't talk to Gin."

"Idiot, it was Szayel that knocked him out," Grimmjow said.

"Gin left and then...I don't remember."

"There was a man with pink hair and glasses. He jabbed you in the neck with something," Grimmjow told Ichigo.

"And you saved me?"

"Yes," Grimmjow said.

"Yer not going to talk him out of hitting ya once he's lucid," Nnoitra stated.

Grimmjow's phone rang. They all looked at it. Finally Grimmjow reached out for it. He looked at the calling number and grimaced.

"Officer Ochi, what do you want?" Grimmjow said.

"Why are you in a hotel?"

"Why the hell do you think? I'm with someone."

"Who?"

"I really don't think I have to answer that," Grimmjow replied.

There was a long pause.

"Is Ichigo Kurosaki with you?" Officer Ochi asked.

Grimmjow growled. "Yes. And I already said it's none of your business."

"Let me talk to him."

"You're over stepping your bounds," Grimmjow said.

"I'm coming over if I don't hear from him."

"And why do you care? Do you guys think I don't know why you're following me around? Do you think I'm stupid?" Grimmjow asked.

"Ichigo Kurosaki," the man repeated into the phone.

Grimmjow handed the phone to Ichigo and hoped he'd act normal enough that Officer Ochi's suspicions wouldn't be raised.

"Hello?" Ichigo asked.

"Are you safe?"

"Haha, that's a silly question!" Ichigo laughed. He paused. "Hey, you're not following me are you?"

"You're safe then?" Officer Ochi asked.

"Yup. All fine here. You sure are nosey," Ichigo said.

Grimmjow stifled a laugh.

"Told you everything's good," Grimmjow said, grabbing the phone back from Ichigo.

* * *

"So?" Officer Ochi asked Yoruichi as he hung up.

"Leave it," Yoruichi said.

"Jaegerjaques is right. We're definitely going past what the law allows us."

"Want a drink?" Yoruichi offered.

"What?"

* * *

Nnoitra got a text message. He glared at his phone. "What the hell!" he yelled at it.

"Something wrong?" Ichigo ask.

"Your stupid cousin just texted me saying, 'Just fucked this chick who had the hugest tits, it was hot!'" Nnoitra complained.

Ichigo laughed. "He's lying. He's 100% gay. He's probably just wanting some attention."

Nnoitra eyeballed him like he didn't believe him.

"Not only that, but chicks with big boobs scare the crap out of him," Ichigo said.

"Really?"

"Yeah. We have a friend who has huge breasts and she can just walk at him and he'll basically huddle in a corner in fear," Ichigo said with a smile.

Nnoitra laughed just thinking about it.

"If I were you," Ichigo grinned, "I'd text him back saying, "That's awesome, is she still there? I can come over and the three of us can have fun.'"

"You're still so cute looking right now, and still so very evil," Grimmjow said, smiling down at the still bundled Ichigo in his arms.

Nnoitra was cackling to himself as he typed in the message. He wasn't surprised when he got a call about a minute later.

"What do you mean am I fucking crazy?" Nnoitra asked into the phone. "If you don't want that other woman I have a couple of friends I can bring by and..." he smiled as Shiro started yelling even louder.

* * *

"Ouch," Grimmjow straightened the kink in his neck. "I shouldn't have fallen asleep on the couch."

"It's yer own fault for not wanting to let go of the berry," Nnoitra said.

"I didn't want him to wander off and hurt himself," Grimmjow claimed.

"Whatever," Nnoitra told him.

"Where is he now?" Grimmjow wondered.

"Making coffee in the other room."

The three of them sat down at the tiny table.

"So how much do you remember about yesterday?" Grimmjow asked Ichigo.

"Pretty much everything, I think," Ichigo said.

Nnoitra glanced over at Grimmjow. "Told ya."

"Er, you're not mad?" Grimmjow asked.

"Uh, no. I kind of have to ask why you asked if I worked for any government though," Ichigo said.

"We're Espada," Grimmjow answered.

Nnoitra's jaw dropped.

"I'm Espada 6, Nnoitra is Espada 5."

"What the hell is wrong with you!" Nnoitra yelled, standing up now.

"So...you're murderers then," Ichigo said evenly.

"What? Look, I'm not saying I haven't had to kill people but that's not what I do," Grimmjow argued.

Ichigo stood up and walked for the door.

"Hey, wait! Where are you going? Don't you understand that your life is in danger right now?" Grimmjow grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Don't touch me," Ichigo said.

"Look, we're the good guys," Grimmjow stated.

"Could have fooled me."

"Ichigo, you can't lie to me. You said last night that you had feelings for me."

"Yeah well whatever was telling me to avoid you before was right. Go strangle some babies or something," Ichigo told Grimmjow. He looked over at Nnoitra. "And you, stay the hell away from Shiro."


	6. Goodbye

**Good-bye**

**

* * *

**

Grimmjow sighed. "Hey, Abarai," he called the big red haired college student to his desk.

"Yes, Professor Jaegerjaques?"

"Where's Kurosaki?"

"I don't know," Renji said. "He didn't call me and say he was sick or going to be late or anything."

Is he really not even going to come to class to avoid me? Grimmjow wondered. Maybe he's already gone. If he were smart, he'd be some place really far away by now. Honestly, it's a good thing he's not here.

Which is why Grimmjow was startled to see a bright head of orange hair heading down the hallway some hours later.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Grimmjow asked angrily.

Ichigo didn't turned around. Grimmjow grabbed the back of his shirt and dragged him down the hallway, practically throwing him into a supply closet. He followed the boy, closing the door behind them.

"What do you think you're doing!" Ichigo yelled at him as they stood together in the dark.

"Are you insane? After what happened you come back here of all places?" Grimmjow said. "They know you're here, and they damn well know where you live and work."

"Why, because you told them?"

"Shut up. I didn't tell anyone squat," Grimmjow replied.

"I'm not going to run away," Ichigo said stubbornly.

"This isn't a courage issue," Grimmjow told him. "This is a common sense issue. Hell, leave the whole damn country if possible."

"No."

"...Ichigo..."

"What about you? Why don't you take me in right now?" Ichigo asked him.

"No one has given me any orders about you, and I don't know that I'd do anything if I got any," Grimmjow admitted.

"You expect me to believe that someone like you has a conscious?"

"You don't know what you're talking about," Grimmjow growled.

"I didn't recognize you before because even I didn't have time to go through every damn personnel file, but I've definitely read all of your reports. They only call you by numbers. Don't think I don't know what the Espadas do, what kind of crap you've done," Ichigo said with venom.

"You're making me out to be a terrorist or a criminal," Grimmjow said.

"You are a state sponsored criminal," Ichigo stated. "Does that make it better?"

"No one likes to admit that organizations like us are necessary but I assure you that every government in the world has black ops," Grimmjow argued.

"How are people supposed to trust their government if their government has no problem stealing, lying and murdering people?" Ichigo asked.

"I'm not a damn assassin!"

"But there are assassins. And you've killed people you were ordered to kill."

Grimmjow didn't say anything.

"Why did you start following me? Why did you break into my place?" Ichigo said.

"I...look things are kind of tight for me. In case you haven't noticed I have a freaking monitor on my leg and have cops following me around everywhere."

"So you were going to do something highly illegal, but just do it on my computer so I go blamed? You were framing me?" Ichigo asked.

"I was planning on covering my tracks, but like you said, there are always ways of finding out stuff. So...yeah...I was setting you up," Grimmjow said. "But I didn't do it, ok?"

"Fine, so I started getting to be too annoying so you would have just done it to some other poor sap who didn't know better, right?" Ichigo asked. "Because somehow that's so morally better."

"Damn it Ichigo, things are more complicated than you think," Grimmjow told him.

"If you work for the government, then why are you being traced all the time?"

"It's not like what I do is really acknowledged by the government, Ichigo. And even if it was, the police, military, and intelligence don't all work together. There's a reason there are different departments. It just so happens that I got caught in a way that made the cops think that there was more to me, so they're following me around. Who knows, maybe they're ideological like you and think taking me down and exposing the program will be good for the country. But it won't," Grimmjow explained.

"Did they just throw you to the wolves?" Ichigo asked. "Did they not even try to get you out of jail?"

"Of course not. Any of us stupid enough to get caught would be disavowed, assuming we ever started talking, which you don't do if you want to live."

"You admit that your organization would kill you?"

"Of course," Grimmjow said. "In fact, you should be a little more appreciative of what I'm doing for you. I risked a lot helping you get your cousin, and I risked even more saving you from Szayel because he's an Espada too. Now they know for a fact that I'm off the farm. If they called me to bring you in and I didn't do it, yeah then I fully expect for them to try and kill me. Knowing what you know, they'd expect me to be in league with you. Or hell, maybe they'd just kill me for being a screw up too many times."

"Are you kidding?"

"Of course not," Grimmjow said.

"Then...thanks," Ichigo told him.

"Yeah well, thank me by going underground. If you don't know how to, I can help."

"No."

"You already said that, but you ain't thinking it through. There's nothing to stop someone from sitting on the roof and sniping you as you walk to your car after school. It would be that easy, and you'd just be dead. I'm sorry you'd have to leave your family and friends, but you have to leave," Grimmjow realized he was pleading. Damn it, when did I get so damn involved with this brat? He wondered to himself.

"I'm sorry, I can't," Ichigo said firmly.

"Well...I am."

"What?"

"I am leaving I think," Grimmjow stated. It's better if I just remove myself from this situation, he thought. I'm not being rational anymore.

"Yeah well do whatever you have to do," Ichigo wasn't looking at him.

"Hey," Grimmjow grabbed Ichigo's arms. "This might be the last time I see you. Can you at least pretend you understand where I'm coming from?"

There was a long moment of silence. Grimmjow was a little shocked as he felt Ichigo press up against him but he didn't wait to wrap his arms around Ichigo and kiss him. It was a slow kiss, and Grimmjow didn't let Ichigo go when he pulled away.

"I'm not going to have sex with you," Ichigo stated, slightly out of breath.

"Whatever, just kiss me again," Grimmjow said, pulling Ichigo's jaw towards him again.

It was a lot more than one kiss, but it wasn't the hot and heavy makeout that Ichigo had teased him with before. Instead, Grimmjow began to feel like he was floating, and he wondered how long he could convince Ichigo to stay in his arms. It was over far too soon for Grimmjow though, and Ichigo abruptly turned away and opened the door a crack, letting in a stream of light.

"Wait," Grimmjow put a hand on Ichigo shoulder. "At least say that you hope you'll see me again."

"I'm not going to lie to make you feel better," Ichigo replied with turning. He felt Grimmjow's hand tighten on his shoulder. He looked back. "Don't...go getting shot or stabbed or anything..." he said.

"See ya, kid," Grimmjow said to Ichigo's retreating back.

* * *

"Well I'm not going," Nnoitra said. "You're the one messing everything up. I'll just lie my way out of whatever."

"Any reason you're staying?" Grimmjow asked with a smile.

"No," Nnoitra replied.

"And are you still seeing Shiro?"

Nnoitra glared at him. "Yes."

"I'm surprised Ichigo didn't warn him off you."

"He did. Shiro didn't care though. I think he thinks I break kneecaps for a living or something," Nnoitra answered. "Hey, ya know his eyes? They're real. They're not contacts, just black and yellow like that naturally."

"That's kinda creepy," Grimmjow said.

"He has a stripper's poll set up in his room," Nnoitra continued.

"What?"

"Yeah, he'll dance for me sometimes," Nnoitra grinned.

"Wow," Grimmjow said. "You think Ichigo knows how?"

"Well how the hell would I know?" Nnoitra asked. "But...I'll tell you a secret..."

Grimmjow raised an eyebrow.

"Shiro was Ichigo's first kiss," Nnoitra said with a laugh.

"He...what? They're cousins!"

"Well Shiro was spending the night over at Ichigo's and the two were alone drinking some sake they had gotten their hands on. Shiro gets Ichigo to admit that he had never kissed anyone yet, and Shiro says he's done plenty of kissing so he'll teach him. Ichigo laughs it off but Shiro is totally serious and goes for it. Ichigo tries to push him off but then they wind up making out for like five minutes."

Grimmjow's mind went back to the closet, to Ichigo pressed up against him, the taste of his lips.

"HEY!" Nnoitra yelled, tossing a pillow at him. "Don't get turned on thinking about my..." he stopped suddenly.

"Your what?" Grimmjow grinned at him. "Did you just almost call him your boyfriend?"

"Shut up," Nnoitra said.

"Besides, you pervert, I was thinking about Ichigo, not your crazy little incestuous albino."

* * *

Ichigo stared at the door handle. This is it, he thought to himself. When he had first moved in to his apartment he had loosened the long handle so that even though it automatically went level when closed, he could push it down to an awkward angle. Whenever he locked his door he put the handle down at a 45 degree angle. He had been able to figure out that Grimmjow had broken into his place before he even entered it, the second he saw that the handle was even again. It was even now. He vaguely supposed Grimmjow could be waiting for him, but most likely...

On Ichigo's key ring there was an automatic door lock and alarm for his car. Next to it was a very similar looking device. He activated the device and then opened the door to his apartment.

"Somehow you don't look as surprised as I was expecting," Szayel said to him.

I probably should have asked Grimmjow what Espada Szayel was, Ichigo thought as he stared at the man. He did drug me so I'm guessing...Espada number 8. If that's true then he's not very strong physically. Ichigo looked at the two other men in his apartment and tried to calculate his odds. Then he felt it and sighed. He'd felt the feeling before. He looked at his now numb hand glumly. "You put it on the door handle..." he said. "That's hardly fair."

"Oh, and I'm all about fairness," Szayel said.

"...Fuck..." Ichigo said as he slumped against the wall.

"Maybe, I'm not sure. We'll have to try later if you don't talk," Szayel said with a smile as Ichigo began to lose consciousness.

I hope I don't see you again, Grimmjow, Ichigo thought as the world got dimmer. I want to believe that you somehow are better than I think you are. I don't want to see you sit and watch me get tortured.

* * *

"Hello?" Grimmjow asked cautiously. He didn't recognize the number of who was calling.

"Mr. Grimmjow Jaegerjaques?"

"...yeah?"

"Ah, hello!"

"Do I know you?" Grimmjow asked with a frown.

"I'm Ichigo's boss."

What was Ichigo's boss's name again? Grimmjow thought back to Ichigo in the shop. Ura...Urahara? Grimmjow blinked. "Kisuke Urahara?"

"Aw, good, he's mentioned me then," Kisuke said into the phone.

He was working with Kisuke Urahara? In a freaking pet store? Yeah right.

"I don't think you should be talking to me," Grimmjow said bluntly.

"Well you see, Ichigo was supposed to come in but hasn't yet."

"He was supposed to work at midnight?" Grimmjow questioned incredulously.

"And now he's not answering his cell phone either. I hope nothing has happened to him."

Grimmjow griped the phone tightly.

"I thought that since you're such a good friend of his you could check his apartment for me," Kisuke continued.

"Yeah," Grimmjow agreed, swallowing dryly. He hung up. "Hey, Nnoitra. You still bored?" he asked, looking over at the large man sprawled on the couch.


	7. Caught

**Caught**

**

* * *

**

Grimmjow lifted his foot up and gave the door a solid kick, and then another. The door cracked and splintered. He burst into the room, but no one was there. However, Ichigo's computer was gone and his keys were laying on the ground.

"Shit," Grimmjow breathed.

"Gee, if I didn't know any better, I'd say ya were concerned," Nnoitra said with a grin.

Grimmjow wrapped his hand around Nnoitra's neck and pushed him into the wall. "I'm not in the mood," Grimmjow growled, holding him there. Nnoitra just laughed.

Grimmjow cursed and let Nnoitra go. He picked up his cell phone and went through his call history.

"Why hello!" Kisuke answered. "I don't suppose you've found my wayward employee, have you?"

"No. He's gone. His stuff is gone," Grimmjow said. "This is all your fucking fault, isn't it?"

"Oh why blame me?" Kisuke replied. "Ichigo is quite able to get into trouble on his own. However, if you do want to find him, why don't you meet me in the back of the pet shop? I have something that will aid you."

"Alright," Grimmjow agreed.

"Where are we going?" Nnoitra asked.

"We're meeting with Kisuke Urahara."

"I really hope yer joking," Nnoitra said.

"Oh come on, where's your sense of adventure?"

* * *

"So yer telling me this weirdo invented Hogyoku Encryption?" Nnoitra asked with disbelief.

"Don't hurt my feelings or anything," Kisuke replied.

"What did you get Ichigo into?" Grimmjow questioned.

"Nothing," Kisuke putting his hands up in a show of innocence.

"And how is it that you think you can help us?" Grimmjow asked.

"Me," Nnoitra corrected.

"What?"

"'How is it that you think you can help me', don't include me in whatever insanity ya have planned," Nnoitra said.

"Well you see," Kisuke answered, "I really don't like for my employees to wander off or get lost or anything. So I implanted a small chip in Ichigo's heel, you know, just to keep track of him."

Grimmjow blinked. "What the hell? I'm supposed to believe that you just happened to hire him and happened to put a tracker in him, but weren't using him for anything?"

"Do you want this or not?" Kisuke asked, holding out a device.

"Yer not really going in, are ya?" Nnoitra asked.

"Look, if they had wanted Ichigo, they would have asked me, right? It's not like I've been discrete. Maybe Szayel isn't acting on orders," Grimmjow offered by way of explanation.

"Szayel is a little shit who does lot of stuff he's not supposed to, but he wouldn't touch this kid with a ten foot pole. He's too much of a coward to face...," Nnoitra stopped when he realized that he was still in front of Kisuke.

"Oh please, don't hold back on my account. I can read whatever I want at any time anyways," Kisuke waved a hand.

"Seems kinda dangerous for ya to have access to all that information," Nnoitra told him.

"Why do you think I dropped off the map? Do you think I'm stupid enough to hang around for people to kill me?" Kisuke answered. "Not that people didn't try anyways."

"What about now? Isn't revealing yourself to us crazy?" Grimmjow asked.

"Why, are you planning on running home to Aizen and telling him about me?"

Nnoitra and Grimmjow stiffened.

"Besides, most likely you'd both be killed for even talking to me," Kisuke pointed out.

"What the fuck, Grimmjow!" Nnoitra jumped up. "Stop trying to get me killed!"

"You already knew who it was when you walked in the door," Grimmjow mentioned. His eyes narrowed. "Look, you ain't on my list and I'm not going to go out of my way to volunteer any info," he told Kisuke.

"Oh why thank you!" Kisuke said with a wide grin, his eyes hidden behind his ridiculous green and white striped bucket hat.

"Great, he's poisoned us or something," Nnoitra replied, looking around nervously. "He's being way too cool with the two of us here."

"What if Szayel is getting orders but you are just being set up?" Kisuke asked. "The police are watching you like a hawk, and if Ichigo disappears, they're going to blame you."

The thought hadn't occurred to Grimmjow yet. He cursed. He remembered how insistent Officer Ochi had been over the phone about wanting to talk to Ichigo at the hotel.

"Here's the thing, isn't it weird that even though the police are highly suspicious of you you're put to work in a college classroom? A college classroom that has someone who looks almost exactly like the man who put you away?" Kisuke's face was hidden behind a fan as he spoke.

"Ya weren't sleeping with Kaien, were ya?" Nnoitra asked curiously.

"No," Grimmjow said. "Besides, he was married."

"So, Kaien Shiba manages to bust you and get you put away, and then he and his wife are shot," Kisuke goes on.

"What?" Grimmjow looked up. "How?"

"You didn't know that?" Kisuke asked. "It was very clumsily disguised as an armed robbery. No one investigating it would think it was a real accident though."

"No wonder they hate me so much," Grimmjow said.

"So the police think you set up a hit on the guy that put you away, but still put you in a classroom with a bunch of kids, one of whom looks curiously like Kaien. Then you get extra incentive because your own boss sends you a work order that will require you to do things you can't do with cops dogging your step," Kisuke said. "Something they know you'll have to use outside sources to do."

"Wait, who is setting Grimmjow up again, the cops or our boss?" Nnoitra asked.

"I think both," Kisuke said.

"Working with each other? I find that hard to believe," Grimmjow answered.

"Either separately or together, does it matter? It's easy enough to have some "random" snitch show up and spill all about your organization, at least enough to get the police after you," Kisuke went on.

"You know what, I don't even care," Grimmjow said. "It ain't possible for me to hate my own boss anymore and I already would punch a cop in the face without even thinking, so let's concentrate on the most immediate thing. We need to get Ichigo."

"You don't even want to know who's trap you're walking into?" Kisuke asked curiously.

"I thought you said Ichigo gets into his trouble. He didn't have to borrow mine. He already told us he broke your encryption," Grimmjow stated.

"Well, that was stupid of him," Kisuke mentioned.

"He was drugged at the time."

"That's hardly a nice thing to do," Kisuke said, his voice getting more serious and a little deeper.

"We didn't do it. Did he really not tell you about Szayel drugging him?"

"No, he seemed to have forgotten to mention it," Kisuke replied dryly.

"So whether or not Szayel grabbed him because he wants to know the secret of Hogyoku Encryption, or whether he was ordered to bring the kid in because he knew too much, or whether he's been used to lure me out for the police, or whatever is going on, it doesn't matter," Grimmjow said.

"Yer outta yer mind," Nnoitra laughed.

"Shut up, you're going to help me," Grimmjow replied.

"Like hell I am. This is complicated and I don't care about the kid enough to want to get involved."

"You are helping."

"What if ya find the kid and find out that the whole thing is totally legit?"

"It's...not right," Grimmjow said.

"What?" Nnoitra said in surprised.

"If it's really an order to bring him in, then fine. But...you know if he's there he's being tortured. You know they wouldn't let him leave alive. It's not right," said Grimmjow.

"Since when did ya think so much?" Nnoitra laughed.

"Since I freaking sat doing nothing but thinking for two years, asshole!" Grimmjow said.

"Ya went soft in lock up? Poor baby. I guess they were right to try and kill ya off."

"You been around me a lot. What makes you think they wouldn't kill you too?"

Nnoitra frowned.

"Even if it's just the cops, you know they'll bring you in for questioning. You know that they'll find something to lock you up for," Grimmjow pressed.

"I hate ya so damn much sometimes," Nnoitra said.

"Well, all the time," Grimmjow corrected.

"Ya," Nnoitra agreed. "I'm still not going."

There was a knock on the door. Grimmjow and Nnoitra tensed.

"Don't worry, I know who it is," Kisuke said. He came back with someone with a familiar face.

"Shiro? What the hell?" Nnoitra asked.

"What's up?" Shiro asked the group.

"Someone has kidnapped Ichigo," Kisuke told him.

"Damn it," Shiro clenched his fist. "Was it the same people that got me?"

"Uh, no. These people are a lot more dangerous," Kisuke answered.

"Look, no offense, but I hardly know ya and ya give off kinda a freaky vibe," Shiro said. "I know Ichigo runs with weirdos, and I'm not gonna lie, I know he's involved with some crazy government or yakuza shit or something. So, Nnoitra, tell me, is Ichigo really in trouble?"

"Yeah," Nnoitra said.

"And you and Grimmjow are going to help him?"

Nnoitra jaw went a little slack and Grimmjow was grinning. He knew that no matter what he claimed, Nnoitra was quite taken with the albino. Considering how rare it was for Nnoitra to care about anyone, it was quite a feat.

"Of course we're going to get him," Grimmjow said. "We're not _cowards_."

Nnoitra was glaring at him.

"They actually work for the government," Kisuke explained to Shiro. "They won't leave Ichigo in the hands of bad guys."

"What, yer a spook or something?" Shiro asked Nnoitra.

"Uh...yeah..." Nnoitra replied.

"That's pretty awesome. Do ya get to carry around guys and shoot people when they piss ya off?"

"Ha, actually ya," Nnoitra grinned.

"Well, let's get going," Shiro replied.

"What?"

"We're wasting time, we need to..." Shiro continued.

"Ya aren't going anywhere," Nnoitra said.

"Of course I am. Ichigo came for me."

"Look, the situation is different. It's dangerous," Nnoitra explained.

"So what?" Shiro said defiantly. "Like hell are ya leaving me here!"

"Shiro...I don't want ya to get hurt," Nnoitra told him.

"Well then..." Shiro's eyes went wide. "What the fuck!" he yelled at Kisuke, who was removing a needle from Shiro's arm.

"What the hell did ya just give him!" Nnoitra said, rushing to Shiro, who was beginning to lean.

"Just something to make him sleep. He seems like he might be stubborn and we don't need him getting in the way," Kisuke answered with a shrug.

Shiro's eyes were unfocused as they scanned Nnoitra's face. "Don't get come back fulla holes because I ain't gonna take care of ya," he said to Nnoitra.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure to dodge," Nnoitra replied.

Shiro closed his eyes and went unconscious, his body going slack in Nnoitra's arms.

"If you don't go now, he'll never forgive you," Grimmjow pointed out.

"Fuck you! I already know that," Nnoitra replied, gnawing on his lip. He looked over at Kisuke. "You are just evil!" he pointed.

"I don't know, I think it worked out nicely," Kisuke smiled. He handed Grimmjow the device he had been holding earlier. "Do you know how to use this?"

"Yeah," Grimmjow replied.

"Just a hint," Kisuke said. "But...not everyone in your little group of Espada is who they claim to be..."

"What?" Nnoitra asked.

"Ichigo knows that, and it might be why he was taken. I'm not sure if you'll find out whether or not he was taken under orders or not, but no matter who is helping you and who is shooting at you, don't trust a single one of them unless Ichigo tells you that you can."

"I guess I have a lot of questions for Ichigo when I find him then," Grimmjow said.

"Hurry up, let's go back and grab our guns, I wanna have time to grab some drive through. I'm starving," Nnoitra whined.

"I can't believe you are bitching about food," Grimmjow rolled his eyes.

"I'm a better shot with a full belly."

* * *

_A/N: Yeah I know, Ichigo doesn't even show up in this chapter! Don't worry, I'll make it up to you next chapter with an old fashioned shoot out (because when have Grimmjow and Nnoitra ever been subtle?)_


	8. Rescue

**Rescue**

**

* * *

**

"I would have thought you were a man of more finesse," Ichigo said through gritted teeth.

"Ah, well, sometimes it's good to mix things up a bit. Plus all these poor men will be sad and bored if I don't give them something to do," Szayel shrugged.

One of the previously mentioned "poor men" punched Ichigo in the head so hard he fell off his chair.

"Yeah, I'm still pretty paralyzed, so if you want me sitting you're going to have to put me back up there," Ichigo replied. Rough hands grabbed at him and propped him back on the chair.

"You have a remarkable tolerance for pain," Szayel mentioned. "I'm pretty sure that right hand of yours has at least three broken bones."

Ichigo just grinned.

"Let me rephrase that," Szayel continued. "For someone who keeps claiming to be a normal college student you have had a lot of training to resist interrogation."

"Naw, I'm just a natural," Ichigo smirked. "I'm just really stubborn and it doesn't hurt that I really dislike you."

"Oh? And what do you dislike about me?" Szayel asked.

Ichigo was quiet, he wasn't going to volunteer any information.

"By the way, have you been having fun with our Grimm?" Szayel questioned.

"Oh yeah, we go and play catch in the park and go on camping trips. He's my bestest friend."

Szayel looked at his watch. "You still have some time to go before it's safe for me to give you a little happy juice to make our questioning go smoother. Are you sure you don't want to help me out? Or do you like the sight of your own blood?"

Ichigo was quiet.

"Oh just stab him someplace," Szayel told one of the men. "Just remember to keep him conscious."

Ichigo closed his eyes and tried to think of complex code, something that would require all of his free thoughts to work on. He tried to keep his body as relaxed as possible, at least as much as he could with whatever he's been dosed with that was restricting his movements. He'd lied when he had been laying on the ground though, he was getting feeling back in most of his body. Before, although he had felt the pain, he hadn't been able to flex or move. Now he was cautiously stretching, trying to see how much freedom he had gained. White hot pain shot out from his left leg as one of the goons near him plunged a knife into his thigh.

"Yeah, that's probably gonna bleed a lot," Ichigo said, opening his eyes. "Or did you want me passed out?"

"You idiot!" Szayel yelled at the man with the knife. He ordered someone else to get some bandages, or at least that's what Ichigo assumed was happening, his ears were starting to buzz. He blinked his eyes to get the blood and sweat out of them.

I wonder how long I can hold out? Ichigo thought. He'll probably be a lot more thorough in his questions than Grimmjow was and I wasn't very strong against whatever it was that Szayel drugged me with that first time. Of course, it was Grimmjow, and...I kind of wanted to explain some things to him. Maybe it'll be a little different this time. I'll try to take satisfaction in any bit of annoyance I cause this Espada. I suppose that there are people trying to rescue me, but it's never good to expect help, and I'm not the type to sit around and wait.

Ichigo opened and closed his hands while Szayel was arguing with some of his men. I'm getting there, Ichigo thought.

* * *

Grimmjow and Nnoitra looked at each other before slowly opening the door and descending the steps that led underneath the empty looking lot. They froze when they saw a figure at the bottom. The person also didn't move for a minute, but then laughed. He held out his hands to indicate that he wasn't holding a weapon, and slowly pulled back his hood.

"Kaien?" Grimmjow said.

"You here to rescue Ichigo too?" Kaien asked.

"What? I heard that you were dead," Grimmjow replied.

"I think he's probably just down this hall," Kaien said.

Nnoitra's brow was furrowed. "Ichigo is a cop?"

"I wouldn't say that," Kaien replied. His face got stern. "But I'm not going to let them take Ichigo away from me too. I survived, but my wife didn't."

"You guys are related?" Grimmjow questioned. "You suck at background checks, Nnoitra."

"We need to stop talking and move," Kaien said. "I have some more people coming but it might take another half an hour."

The three men walked quietly down the hall, stopping when they heard voices. Kaien knelt down and grabbed something from his pocket, a small mirror on a stick, and edged it towards the doorway. He gave several quick hand signals to Grimmjow and Nnoitra, indicating two enemies on the right side of the door, three on the left, and one in the center. Grimmjow and Kaien were taking left and center, Nnoitra would go right. They carefully waited, watching the countdown Kaien was giving.

They ran in.

One of Nnoitra's targets was the closest, he went down not even being able to reach his weapon in time.

Grimmjow's first target heard the shot and ducked behind a box. Grimmjow just laughed and shot right through it, stepping around to make sure he'd gotten the man, The man's face was full of splinters and his shoulder was bleeding, he start to bring his gun level but was blown back as Grimmjow finished the job.

Nnoitra was pissed off that he had had to hide behind a steel poll because his second target was a little more on the ball than the first. He just turned his gun around and fired randomly behind him. He was a little shocked when he heard a gun clatter to the ground. He peeked around to see that he had managed to nick the guy. My lucky day today, Nnoitra thought. The man was laying on the ground and reached for his weapon. Nnoitra grinned and pulled the trigger a couple more times.

Grimmjow's second target was proving annoying as well, having holed himself up in a fairly defensible position. Grimmjow spent a split second of consideration and then just charged, dodging back and forth quickly as he heard shots around him. He jumped on top of the car the man was hiding behind and shot down as the man fell over backwards trying to get another shot at him.

Grimmjow and Nnoitra looked across the room, meeting each other's eyes. Kaien was in the center of the room, next to a slumped over body. He was facing Szayel, who had made no move to hide or find a weapon. Nnoitra and Grimmjow walked up behind Kaien.

"Where did ya pick up these guys, Szayel?" Nnoitra said with disgust. "I don't know if ya noticed, but they kinda sucked."

"I guess he couldn't really get company men," Grimmjow said. "These were just some random hired thugs."

Szayel opened his mouth to speak.

Kaien shot him through the throat. Szayel's eyes went wide. His hands were flying up even as his body was falling to the ground.

"Wow, I didn't really think that cops were supposed to shoot unarmed..." All of a sudden things went very slow for Grimmjow. Even as he was talking he noticed that Kaien was turning towards him. He saw the gun come up and started going for his own, but he knew that it was going to be too late. Two shots rang out.

Grimmjow had his hands around his gun, pointing at nothing. Kaien was on the ground moaning. Grimmjow looked over and saw Ichigo with a gun still trained on the fallen man.

"...nice shooting, kid..." Nnoitra said.

Kaien's gun hand had been shot, and then his knee.

"Ichigo?" Grimmjow asked, confused. "Isn't he your...cousin or something?"

"Are you kidding?" Ichigo replied. He frowned at Grimmjow. "You really don't know who this is?"

"Why the hell is this so damn confusing?" Nnoitra complained.

"Imagine him with pads on the inside of his cheeks to puff them out. Add thick brows. Change the eye color to brown. Slick back his hair," Ichigo said.

"You...you're Espada 9?" Grimmjow said in surprise.

"Well I guess it's not surprising, I think we've only met twice officially," the man on the floor said.

"Kaien Shiba is an Espada? No, that doesn't make sense..."

"You never met Kaien," Ichigo said. "Espada 9 here found a man that looked very similar to him and had plastic surgery to make them almost identical. He killed the original Kaien, and of course his wife, who would recognize the difference. After he did what was needed to do, he had it look like both were killed."

"You bastard! You guys did set me up!" Grimmjow yelled. "And why the hell did you shoot Szayel? Isn't he with you? Why not just kill me? Why jail? Why put the police on me?"

"My name is Aaroniero by the way."

"Who fucking cares?" Nnoitra responded.

"Well, I thought somebody might," Aaroniero said, as he pulled a knife from his pocket.

"Yeah, good luck try to get us with that from down there," Grimmjow told him.

Aaroniero smiled and then put the blade to his neck. Ichigo quickly turned around as the Espada slit his own throat. Looking away didn't help though, there were just more dead bodies wherever he looked.

"I have to say, I really wasn't expecting that," Grimmjow admitted.

"Did you guys really have to kill them _all_?" Ichigo said weakly.

"You're the one that is a fucking marksman," Grimmjow replied. "Hand and knee, huh? Just like they teach in the academy?"

"I'm not a cop," Ichigo said.

"Yeah, you just play video games," Grimmjow rolled his eyes.

Ichigo fell to his hands and knees, blood spewing from his mouth. Grimmjow rushed to his side to hold him up. "I uh...think I have a punctured lung," Ichigo mentioned.

"I think you got a lot more than that," Grimmjow said, finally noticing all Ichigo's injuries.

"So uh, do we call cleaners or not?" Nnoitra said, looking around the room.

"Leave them," Ichigo replied. "You probably don't want anyone to know you were here."

"Did you forget that I'm freaking being monitored?" Grimmjow asked.

"Then we should get going before anyone shows up," Ichigo mentioned.

* * *

"There's no reason for you to not go to the hospital," Grimmjow was saying. "We can just drop you off."

"My dad is a doctor, I suppose he could...no, I'm going to need more than that," Ichigo considered. "Actually, there's someplace I should probably go anyways."

"Oh yeah, let's stop by the bank and do some chores," Grimmjow said sarcastically. "I'm sure that the blood in your lungs will solve itself."

"You came and saved me, huh?" Ichigo asked. "I'm surprised you were able to make Nnoitra come along."

"Nnoitra came because he didn't want Shiro to cut him off from sex forever," Grimmjow grinned.

"Pretty much," Nnoitra agreed.

"Left here," Ichigo said. Grimmjow turned. "Right," Ichigo directed.

Eventually they parked in front of a large office building. Grimmjow and Nnoitra stood in front of it nervously.

"Uh, Grimmjow?" Nnoitra asked.

"You think I'm happy about this?" Grimmjow replied.

"What's wrong, guys?" Ichigo questioned them. He was leaning heavily on the car.

"Nothing," Grimmjow said, putting Ichigo's arm around him to he could help him walk.

The elevator was already full of tension when Ichigo reached out and hit the emergency stop on it. The elevator shuddered to a standstill. Ichigo grabbed the red emergency phone out of its cubbyhole and waited.

"Ichigo!" came a loud feminine voice over the phone.

"Hi, Rangiku," Ichigo said, waving at the security camera in the corner.

"Coming up?"

"Yeah," Ichigo replied. He hung up and the elevator began moving up again.

"You're starting to make me nervous," Grimmjow told Ichigo.

"Yeah, ya know, I'm thinking maybe I should've stayed with the dead bodies," Nnoitra agreed.

"You're safer here than you're going to be anywhere else right now," Ichigo said.

"I sincerely hope that's not true," Grimmjow replied.

"A car," Nnoitra said.

"What?" Grimmjow asked.

"I was trying to think of what ya owed me. I'm thinking a really nice car."

The doors opened and neither man moved. "I hate to ask this, but I do need a little help," Ichigo said. Grimmjow sighed and helped Ichigo walk down the hall, Nnoitra following behind cautiously.

"Oh there you are Ichigo!" a busty strawberry blond emerged from a pair of double doors. She grabbed Ichigo into a fierce hug. Ichigo made a gurgling noise as his face went between her breasts.

"Hey, get off him!" Grimmjow pushed her off. "He's hurt."

"Getting into fights again, Ichigo?" she asked as she looked him over.

"It's a little more serious than that. I need to see the old man," Ichigo replied.

"Er..." Rangiku looked at the two men behind him.

"Trust me, it'll be fine," Ichigo told her.

"I'll just let Chojiro know then," she said, walking quickly back down the hall.

Ichigo motioned for Grimmjow to follow after her.

"Grimmjow, who the hell can just walk into a place like this?" Nnoitra asked.

"I uh...don't know..." Grimmjow said.

"I'm right here," Ichigo replied.

"Yeah, and would you answer if we asked you anything?" Grimmjow questioned.

"Well, I imagine it's going to be pretty clear in a minute or two anyways," Ichigo came back with.

"He's having tea," Chojiro said as the party walked up to the door. "But seeing as how it seems to be important..."

"Thanks," Ichigo said. Chojiro pulled open the door and allowed them to enter.

Three men sat around a low table drinking tea.

"Well this is interesting," the one with brown hair pulled back into a ponytail said.

"Ichigo! You're hurt!" the one with long white hair stated, jumping up.

"Grandfather," Ichigo said, bowing to the oldest one, who was bald but had a long white beard.

"...shit," Nnoitra breathed.

"Director Yamamoto," Grimmjow gave a small nod of his head towards the old man.


	9. Interrogation

**Interrogation**

**

* * *

**

"Ichigo, what happened to you?" Yamamoto asked.

"I was kidnapped by an Espada," Ichigo answered.

All three men turned their eyes to the Espadas on either side of Ichigo.

"Not these ones, obviously," Ichigo added. "They actually saved me. This is..." he looked over at Grimmjow. "Uh, names or numbers?"

"I really don't think it matters at this point," Grimmjow replied.

"The one propping me up is Grimmjow Jaegerjaques, Espada 6. The tall one is Nnoitra Jiruga, Espada 5," Ichigo said. "This is Shunsui Kyoraku, head of the Crime and Narcotics department, Jushiro Ukitake head of the Weapons Intelligence, Nonproliferation, and Arms Control Center, and I guess you already know Genryūsai Yamamoto, Director of Intelligence."

"Let us speak a moment," Yamamoto said, standing up. Ichigo followed him into another room.

"Seriously Nnoitra, you must be the worst background checker ever," Grimmjow grumbled.

"Director Yamamoto's children aren't very close to him, and his wife has long been gone, so when he became close with a girl he had taken in he treated her like his daughter," Jushiro explained. "When she had children he considered them his own grandchildren. Ichigo has always been close with him, especially after his mother died. It's not something that would have showed up in a routine roundup, they aren't related by blood."

"What happened to the Espada that took Ichigo?" Shunsui asked.

"Dead. Two dead Espada, actually," Grimmjow answered.

"So you really have no problem shooting your own?" Jushiro said disapprovingly.

"One killed the other and then himself," Grimmjow replied.

"It was a big room?" Shunsui asked.

"Uh, yeah?" answered Grimmjow .

"So plenty of room for another two Espada bodies, huh?"

"Shunsui," Jushiro chided.

"We are on the same side, even if you don't want to admit it," Grimmjow replied. "Are you saying you never used intel from a black-ops source? That you never asked counterintelligence to do something that you weren't legally able to do?"

"How did you get Ichigo involved into your crap?" Shunsui went on.

"Ya gotta be kidding me," Nnoitra said. "As far as I can tell Ichigo got himself nabbed all by himself."

"Oh really? Somehow he managed to piss off a bunch of killers like you?" Shunsui asked.

"Are you really telling me that Ichigo isn't working for you?" Grimmjow frowned.

"Of course not. You think we hire straight out of high school?" Jushiro responded.

"What the hell? The kid freaking cracks Hogyoku Encryption, shoots like a marksmen, and even captured and questioned Nnoitra and I and you're saying he has nothing to do with you?" Grimmjow asked angrily.

"He did what?" Shunsui asked.

"Are you sure?" Jushiro questioned.

"Here I thought that even though I didn't really like the answers I was getting, that I was finally get somewhere," Grimmjow said as he roughly ran his fingers though his hair.

"I'm having a hard time believing you. As far as I know, Ichigo is scared of guns," Jushiro mentioned.

"What?" Grimmjow asked.

"Well, that sort of thing tends to happen when you see your mom get shot in the head when you're nine," Shunsui said. "And I sincerely doubt he'd ever willing be in the presence of two guys like you."

"I...don't think he likes us much, no," Grimmjow replied.

"It was someone from your organization that killed his mother," Shunsui continued.

Grimmjow closed his eyes for a moment. Damn it, he thought to himself.

"Aw, guess you're never gonna get to snuggle up to the berry again," Nnoitra told him.

Grimmjow glared at him.

"So how did you get mixed up with him and why did you go and save him? Because if you're using him I doubt you're going to make it to the end of the hall alive," Shunsui said.

"For someone who has been calling me a killer, you sure are making a lot of threats," Grimmjow growled.

"I'm fond of the kid," Shunsui told him.

"So is Grimmjow," Nnoitra added with a wide grin.

"You keep your hands off him," Shunsui's eyes narrowed.

"You guys are still acting like he's some innocent," Grimmjow said. "He's been reading the highest security documents in the world from five different countries while working with Kisuke Urahara of all people. None of that seems suspicious to you?"

"What in the world has that boy been getting into?" Jushiro said with a sigh.

"Fine. Let's say he's involved in something. Are you telling me that you just happened to get involved with him?" Shunsui pressed.

"Look, I've been set up somehow by someone, someone from my organization. Two of the people responsible are dead, but I doubt that's the end of it," Grimmjow said.

"And him?" Shunsui pointed at Nnoitra.

"I was just born stupid I guess," Nnoitra replied.

Ichigo and Yamamoto were back. Grimmjow's cell phone rang.

"Answer it," Yamamoto said.

Grimmjow nodded and answered. "Hello?" He paused for a moment. "Why Captain Soifon, Detective Yoruichi, what did I do to get the pleasure of speaking to both of you at once?...Dead bodies? No, I'm a little fuzzy but I think I'd remember that." There was some more talking on the other end of the line that the people in the room couldn't quite hear. "Ichigo Kurosaki is missing? Bummer. Of course it's not my fault...In fact, he's standing right here. Is he ok? Um he's...ok...ish...geez, stop yelling." Grimmjow held the phone out to Ichigo. "Yell hi or something," Grimmjow told him.

"Um...hi?" Ichigo said into the phone.

"See, he's fine," Grimmjow told the two women as he pulled the phone back. "I'd like to see you try," he said with a smile. He started laughing. "You guys are really pissed off, huh?...Naw, I don't feel like coming in and talking...you know that you're overstepping some boundaries right now and I don't really feel like playing anymore...oh really? Then why don't you come and get me? I know you have some damn satellite tracking me so it's not like you don't know where I am." There was silence on both sides of the phone for awhile. "Yeah, I thought so, can't really follow me right now, can you?" Grimmjow grinned. "No, I don't think I have to tell you who I'm with...my goodness Yoruichi, you need to get her a muzzle or something...I can tell you one thing Soifon, but I don't think you're going to like it." Grimmjow paused dramatically. "Yoruichi is sleeping with Officer Ochi," he said and then hung up, laughing.

"You're such an idiot sometimes," Ichigo told him, coughing slightly.

Grimmjow stopped laughing and grabbed onto him. "I'm not the idiot here," Grimmjow said, kneeling in front of Ichigo and putting his ear to his chest.

"Hey! You..."

"Shut up, Ichigo," Grimmjow told him, trying to listen to his lungs. "How the hell are you even breathing?" He looked over at Yamamoto. "I know we got a lot of things to work out, but in the meantime, we really need to get Ichigo fixed up."

"I've already called our head doctor, she will be here shortly to take Ichigo to our medical facilities," Yamamoto answered.

"Don't leave," Ichigo said to Grimmjow. "Neither of you," he looked over at Nnoitra.

"I kind of think it's not going to be a problem," Grimmjow answered.

"Neither of the two Espadas will be leaving," Yamamoto agreed.

"Why is that?" Ichigo asked.

"We haven't forgotten those of us that were taken, that have been killed by the Espadas, or by their organization," Shunsui said.

"You guys are all so stupid sometimes," Ichigo told him. "This whole department against department thing prevents you from seeing the whole picture. The dysfunction has allowed for something really dangerous and dark to happen. You've been betrayed and played for years, and you don't even know it."

"Ichigo, what are you talking about?" Jushiro asked.

"I imagine that you were all happy when Sosuke Aizen was promoted from Terrorism Analysis to Director of Counterintelligence, happy because you imagined that such an upright person would finally hold the department in check when the only reason he got the job was through blackmail and assassination. He is the one who ordered the murder of the four department heads and four assistants that you've been blaming black-ops for. Not only that but he's culpable for the murder of Kaien Shiba and his wife, of my mother...dozens of people have been killed directly on his orders and a lot more from his indirect orders."

"But that all happened before he became the Director of Counterintelligence," Jushiro argued.

"Didn't I just mention blackmail? He was controlling the department way before he was officially marked as the director," Ichigo explained.

"These are very serious accusations," Yamamoto said.

"I can prove them all," Ichigo replied. "And that's not even the worst part. He's been making the Espada into his own personal attack force, he has plans..." Ichigo started coughing again, blood flecking his lips. There was knock on the door and a woman walked in.

"Dr. Unohana," Yamamoto said, "After he is taken care of make sure to put him in a secured room."

* * *

"Well, it's better than being locked up, right?" Grimmjow offered.

"I'm already bored," Nnoitra complained. "I wish they didn't take our phones, I could've at least called Shiro and had some phone sex."

"What, with me right here?" Grimmjow frowned.

"Like I care. You're the one that got me into this mess."

Grimmjow went to the door. Instantly two armed guards were in his way. "I just wanted to go down the hall and see how Ichigo is doing," he told them.

They didn't answer, which he took to mean that they weren't sure if they were allowed to or not.

"Did they say to guard me, or did they say to keep me in my room?" Grimmjow asked. "Because I thought I was told to not leave this floor, but I didn't hear that I had to stay in that room." He paused. "I'm going to walk to that room across the hall, and hell, you can even follow me." He started walking. One of the men followed him and the other stayed. He ignore the guards in front of Ichigo's room and knocked on the door.

"Damn it, just come in. I can't really get up right now," Ichigo yelled from the other side of the door.

"So, are you going to let me in?" Grimmjow asked the guards.

One opened the door and let Grimmjow in. "Call if you need anything," the man said to Ichigo. Ichigo nodded.

"So, why are you here?" Ichigo asked, laying on the bed, bandages around his leg, arms, and chest.

"How bad are you hurt?" Grimmjow asked back.

"I don't see how that has any bearing on anything," Ichigo replied.

Grimmjow grinned and moved forward.

"Hey, what the hell..." Ichigo's word were blocked as Grimmjow covered his mouth with his. Ichigo put up his good hand to push Grimmjow off but Grimmjow caught it in his. "I'll yell and have the guards come and get you," Ichigo said into Grimmjow's lips.

"Now why would you do that?" Grimmjow wondered as he kissed along Ichigo's neck.

"Taking advantage of a sick and hurt person is pretty low," Ichigo warned him.

"It's kind of hard to take advantage of you, I have to make my move when the situation allows. Now how the hell do I get this stupid hospital robe off of you?"

"You don't," Ichigo told him.

"This robe is very thin, it doesn't hide a lot," Grimmjow replied, putting a hand onto Ichigo's crotch. "Oh hey, looks like you're ready to go," he said, grabbing a hold of Ichigo's erection. Ichigo's breathing became irregular.

"What are you doing?" Ichigo finally got out.

"Yeah, just keep pushing into me like that," Grimmjow whispered into his ear. "Now tell me, do you work for these guys?"

"You...your asking me questions now?" Ichigo replied.

"Call it enhanced interrogation," Grimmjow said, biting slightly at Ichigo's neck, holding his skin loosely in his teeth. "I kinda wished you didn't smell so medically though."

"Like I can help that," Ichigo replied. He lifted his head up to catch Grimmjow's lips. Grimmjow kissed him briefly but pulled away. "No, I don't work here," Ichigo said. "I'm sure that someone has already told you though."

"I just didn't believe them, and I'm not sure I believe you either," Grimmjow said. He gasped when instead of continuing to push him away, Ichigo used his hand to grab Grimmjow's shirt and pull him practically on top of him. Grimmjow leaned heavily on his hands, trying not to crush Ichigo's bound ribs. "Damn, you're really horny, aren't you?" Grimmjow smiled down at him.

Ichigo grabbed Grimmjow's bottom lip in his teeth and tugged. Grimmjow groaned. "You didn't think this through very much, did you?" Ichigo asked.

"Actually I did, but I have to admit I'm getting a little distracted," Grimmjow replied.

"All that's going to happen is you're going to be left frustrated," Ichigo said.

"It certainly would be nice to touch you without being worried I'm going to break something," Grimmjow agreed. "Ah!" he moaned and closed his eyes as Ichigo's hand went under his pants to began to slightly tug at his hard cock. "Ichigo, promise me that when you're healed up...shit..." Grimmjow leaned harder into Ichigo's hand.

Grimmjow suddenly backed up, sitting at the end of the bed, staring at Ichigo. "Do I need to be worrying about you, Ichigo? Are you just trying to play me?"

"You were never...I've never done anything to you...I'm not planning on doing anything to you," Ichigo replied.

"Nothing at all? Well, that's not exactly what I want to hear," Grimmjow said with a smile, his hands creeping up Ichigo's legs, delicately avoiding the stab wound in his thigh. He hands went under the hospital gown, along the inside of Ichigo's thighs.

"Grimmjow, there are people right outside, and I'm expecting someone to come by and..."

Grimmjow ignored him and lifted up the gown, completely exposing Ichigo's bottom half. He rubbed his hands along Ichigo's hip, enjoying how the boy squirmed. "Now what do you suppose I should do now?" Grimmjow asked Ichigo.

"Go...away..." Ichigo said breathily.

"Only if you say please," Grimmjow grinned, his head now at Ichigo's thighs. He licked one and heard Ichigo murmur. "Was that 'please go away?'" Grimmjow asked.

"...no..." Ichigo admitted.

Grimmjow laughed. He delicately kissed the head of Ichigo's penis.

"Grimmjow," Ichigo moaned.

"Mm, I like that, but since you are the one that pointed out the guards out front..." Grimmjow mentioned.

"I'll be quiet," Ichigo said.

"You're playing so nice right now," Grimmjow said with a smile. "Could it be that you've secretly been dying for me?"

"Shut up! Just..." Ichigo's wish was granted as Grimmjow enveloped him, taking his fully into his mouth. He wanted to dig his hand into Grimmjow's hair but instead he bit at it, trying to prevent himself from making noises.

Grimmjow was enjoying himself. This is probably one of the only times since I've known him that I've actually got the best of him, he was thinking. He looked up, he wanted to see the lust and desire in Ichigo's eyes. Ichigo's eyes were closed, a fist to his mouth. Grimmjow stopped moving for moment. Ichigo opened his eyes and looked down. Grimmjow got an evil idea and pulled off of Ichigo.

"What..."

"I thought you were the one that told me I shouldn't be taking advantage of someone injured," Grimmjow said with a smirk.

Ichigo glared at him.

"So, just to make sure that I'm getting the complete picture, tell me what you want me to do," Grimmjow continued.

Ichigo growled at him. Grimmjow just waited. "Grimmjow just...just fucking suck me off already," Ichigo finally said.

Grimmjow dearly wanted to make Ichigo beg for it, but he figured he should probably just count his lucky stars and save that for next time. It was close enough for now.

"Uh..." Ichigo threw back his head at the feeling of being buried in wet warmth as Grimmjow wrapped his mouth around him again. He tried to not move his injured hand but he was still grabbing at the sheets. He bit on his lip but he knew he was still making noise, he could feel Grimmjow laughing at his muffled moans. Ichigo's eyes flew open, "Grimmjow...I'm going...Grimmjow..." Grimmjow had been waiting for it. He wasn't really good at it, but he could definitely at least briefly deep throat. The second he heard that warning and pleading pitch in Ichigo's voice, he bore down, pushing his face into Ichigo, burying his nose into the hair at the base of Ichigo's penis.

"FUCK!" Ichigo yelled, pouring himself down Grimmjow throat. Grimmjow waited as long as he could and then quickly pulled the hospital gown back down over Ichigo and threw the blanket at his feet over him.

"Are you ok?" the guard said, bursting through the door.

Grimmjow was off in the corner, pretending the lamp was suddenly very interesting.

"I'm fine," Ichigo said, panting.

The man nodded and left.

"Um, Ichigo?" Grimmjow said.

"Get over here and kiss me," Ichigo ordered. Grimmjow smiled and went over and kissed Ichigo gently.

"So what I was going to say was that the picture frame over by the lamp definitely has a camera attached to it."

"Well, shit," Ichigo said, blushing. "I...kind of forgot about that."

"Don't worry, I meant to ask you a lot more questions but I seemed to have gotten carried away," Grimmjow told him. "I should probably go now."

"What do you mean?" Ichigo frowned.

"I think that the guards are a little suspicious of us already," Grimmjow said. "But I would definitely like a rain check." He looked over at Ichigo and grinned. "Are you actually pouting?"

"Of course not," Ichigo said, uncrossing his arms.

Grimmjow paused at the door. "I've done a lot of things I don't really think were good or anything, but I was never involved in killing anyone from intelligence or any civilians either, at least not anyone not anyone...I...I'm sorry to hear about your mom," he got out.

"I know everything about you," Ichigo said. "I already know what you have and haven't done."

"Well then I guess it's understandable why you freaked out, I certainly ain't an angel."

"Better than Nnoitra though."

"Hell yeah, better than Nnoitra," Grimmjow agreed. "Any other Espadas I shouldn't let get behind my back, or was it just Szayel and Aaroniero?"

"I think we're going to have a meeting or something, I'll go over everything then."

Grimmjow opened the door and then took a quick step back when he saw the man in the doorway. I shouldn't have let them take my gun, he thought.

"Take it easy, Grimmjow," Ichigo said. "He's just here to talk to me."

"Gin? Gin Ichimaru? Didn't he leave you to get poisoned by Szayel?" Grimmjow stated.

"Oh, is that what happened?" Gin said with a smile.

"Don't worry about it," Ichigo told Grimmjow.

"Out you go," Gin said, pushing Grimmjow out the door and closing it quickly.

Grimmjow stared at the closed door.


	10. Planning

**Planning**

_A/N: So it's all official now, I'm moving to Los Angeles. West Hollywood to be specific, where I'll be fabulous all damn day (true fact: I'm not as fabulous as I could be). Anyways, moving from the east coast to the west coast isn't an easy task, so things might slow down on the writing front. I imagine once all my things are taken away and being shipped I'll still have plenty of laptop time, it just depends on whether I still have internet access to upload stuff._

_

* * *

_

Grimmjow answered the door and saw Ichigo standing there. He let him in.

"Ah man, you found some clothes," Grimmjow complained. "I wanted to see the back of the hospital gown."

Ichigo glared at him. He was wearing loose gym shorts and a t-shirt. He had tried pants but it just didn't work with how bandaged up his left thigh was. He sunk into a chair, and Nnoitra and Grimmjow took spots at the edge of the bed.

"Have they been making you sleep together?" Ichigo asked with a small smile, noting the single bed and lack of a couch.

"Yeah, but when we cuddle at night Grimmjow only calls out yer name and it makes me so sad," Nnoitra replied.

"So are you here to actually enlighten us on anything?" Grimmjow asked.

"Actually, yes. Unlike you, this department has to work within the law," Ichigo said. "Getting Gin Ichimaru in to testify against Aizen is part of that. As Assistant Director of Counterintelligence, he has the ability to ask for help from other departments and branches of government if he feels that the Director is overstepping his bounds. Basically Gin is claiming Aizen has got a screw loose, which means that the Intelligence Office can assist with removing him from power while allegations against him are confirmed. One of the other things Gin claims is that you were specifically put at the technical college for him to be able to keep tabs on you, Grimmjow. Aizen has been doing lots of things that can't be completely covered up, and he's been preparing for years to have it all fall onto your shoulders."

"So Gin was just there to make sure that the cops were onto me? Or something more?" Grimmjow asked.

"Both. He had been giving the police some information to keep them interested, but was also spying on you and gathering his own info to add to the pile of whatever case Aizen had been building against you," Ichigo explained.

"You said that Aizen was using Espada for his own hits," Nnoitra said. "I haven't been asked to do anything like that."

"Only certain Espada," Ichigo replied. "Most are like you, unaware, or maybe slightly suspicious but not completely figuring things out. For instance, Szayel never knew that Aizen was plotting against anyone more than Grimmjow. He knew that Espada were being used for more and more things, and more illegal things, but he assumed everyone was in on it. He most likely figured that Grimmjow was being singled out as punishment and didn't think anything of it. I think he was completely shocked when three Espada came to my rescue, and he obviously wasn't aware that Aaroniero would rather kill him than have him alive and possibly giving up information."

"Yeah, he didn't even try to go for any of his weapons," Grimmjow said.

"I would've thought he would've a least tried to dart us with poison or something," Nnoitra agreed.

"How did you know that Gin would help you against Aizen? How did you even know he was involved?" Grimmjow asked.

"I didn't know you guys because you were only referred to by numbers in the files. Gin Ichimaru was mentioned by name. He didn't bother changing it or hiding or anything. I know for a fact that he hates Aizen, so I cautiously brought up some stuff to him and found him eager to work out a deal," Ichigo responded.

"He left you with Szayel," Grimmjow stated.

"Like I said, Szayel wasn't really in on it. Gin told me he just assumed that I was working on getting Szayel to testify just like I was working on him," Ichigo said.

"So, here's the real question,"Grimmjow paused as he looked at Ichigo. "Who are you? Who are you working for?"

"That was two."

"Don't be coy," Grimmjow replied.

"I told you, I'm just some hacktivist punk that wound up with too much information," Ichigo answered.

"Bullshit," Grimmjow said.

"There's gonna be a raid. Ya coming?" Nnoitra asked Ichigo.

"Yes."

"Then yer not just some kid," Nnoitra argued.

"Fine, I'm not just some innocent kid off the street," Ichigo admitted. "But I'm not dangerous to you, in fact I want to help you. Inside I can correctly id people who are on Aizen's side or just mixed up into it for some other reason. Not only that but I've pretty much already convinced the Department of Intelligence to cosponsor the raid, have evidence laid out and already recorded against Aizen, and am doing everything I can to make sure that nothing bad comes down on you two."

Ichigo had been walking around as he was talking. Still sitting on the bed, Grimmjow grabbed Ichigo's hips and pulled him towards the bed, so that he was between Grimmjow's legs. Grimmjow looked up at Ichigo. "You're really not going to tell me anything?" Grimmjow asked.

Ichigo played with Grimmjow's hair.

"Don't try to distract me," Grimmjow said.

"No, he's just trying to make me vomit," Nnoitra stated, standing up and walking away from the pair.

"Why didn't you just back off once it became clear that I wasn't just some college kid?" Ichigo asked Grimmjow. "Why did you keep saving me?"

"I admit that at first I went after you because of your looks," Grimmjow said, relaxing into Ichigo's hand as the kid kept running his hands through his hair. "But I liked that you practically hated me."

"That's a funny reason to like someone."

"I liked the fire of it," Grimmjow said. "I like challenge, having to track down prey."

"I am _not_ prey," Ichigo sounded slightly offended.

"Damn tricky, confusing, dangerous prey. The best kind," Grimmjow elaborated.

"That was enough to risk your life, huh?"

"I have to admit, I work mostly on instincts," Grimmjow said. "I usually don't question them, they've saved my life on more than one occasion."

"So, no thought process, just throwing yourself into bullet fire for me?" Ichigo said with a low laugh.

"I think I've become predictable. You make me unpredictable again," Grimmjow replied.

Ichigo pushed Grimmjow prone onto the bed, pressing himself into Grimmjow with a passionate kiss. Grimmjow moaned and wrapped his hands around Ichigo's back.

"I hate you both," Nnoitra groaned, slamming the door to the bathroom closed.

The two on the bed continued kissing, their bodies pressing into each other. Grimmjow ran his hand along Ichigo's ass and pulled Ichigo even closer to him. He heard Ichigo groan in pain and stopped kissing him. "Ichigo, your damn ribs are in pieces right now, you really should be..." Grimmjow's words began to slow as Ichigo's kisses traced along his jawline and down his neck. He reached for Ichigo's hand and touched the cast that was on Ichigo's right arm. It served to draw him back a little and he tried to focus. "Ichigo, I don't want to hurt you," Grimmjow said.

"Haven't you ever heard the phrase 'carpe diem'?" Ichigo asked.

"In this case, the day will have to wait," Grimmjow said.

"I thought you were aiming for unpredictable?" Ichigo groaned as Grimmjow sat them both up. "Besides, what if something happens at the raid?"

"Nothing is going to happen at the raid. Well, maybe Nnoitra will get shot..." Grimmjow contemplated.

"I heard that!" Nnoitra yelled from the bathroom. He opened the door. "And for the love of all that's holy, wait until after the raid so I don't have to hear ya guys slobber on each other."

"I really don't think you can complain seeing at what you and Shiro do in front of people," Ichigo rolled his eyes. "I heard from him by the way."

"Yeah? They took our phones," Nnoitra said.

"He called me from Kisuke's phone and told me that Kisuke wasn't available to talk to at the moment," Ichigo related. "Any idea why?"

Nnoitra was laughing. Grimmjow explained, "Shiro wanted to come but Kisuke knocked him out with some drug. I'm guessing Shiro got a little revenge."

"Yeah, Kisuke was definitely making muffled cries in the background," Ichigo said. "I told Shiro we were all fine. He said damn well right because he hates getting the blood out of your clothes."

"You make him do your laundry?" Grimmjow asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I suck at it, ok?" Nnoitra tried to defend himself. "And he doesn't do it himself, he has some chick that picks it up. So I just throw my stuff in there."

"So when should we expect the invitation?" Grimmjow asked.

"What?"

"To your wedding," Grimmjow finished, ducking Nnoitra's punch.

* * *

The three men walked down the hall towards what Ichigo had jokingly called "the war room".

"Ichi!" came a cry, then someone was hugging Ichigo.

Ichigo stiffened. "Aw, I didn't hurt your ribs, did I?" Gin asked.

"Maybe he just doesn't like a man as creepy as you calling him by a nickname and touching him," Grimmjow said, wondering how the guards escorting them would react to a little fist violence against the fox faced man.

Gin released his grip on Ichigo however and they were led to their seats. The table was wide and long, of a dark wood. Ichigo was seated across from Nnoitra and Grimmjow, and next to Gin, who was playing with Ichigo's hair in way that was causing Grimmjow's blood pressure to go up. Suddenly there was a hand grasping Gin's pulling it off of Ichigo.

"Please refrain from touching him," a familiar voice said.

"Professor Kuchiki?" Grimmjow blurted out.

Byakuya Kuchiki looked over at him and gave him a small nod. "I of course don't use my real first name at the school, but it shouldn't surprise you that I'm there. Our school is the number one technical school in the country, ripe with lots of young talent to recruit from."

"Still, aren't you a little high up to be doing something like recruiting? I mean...you have to be high ranked to be here, right?"

"I'm head of the Information Operations Center Analysis. Teaching is a relaxing distraction from what I am usually doing. I thought I'd teach for these couple of years since my sister would be at the school," Byakuya explained. "Also, I am very good at getting new faces into the department." He looked over at Grimmjow. "In fact, there are several in your class that I have been approaching."

"Let me guess, the droopy blond, Mr. 69, and Big Red," Grimmjow groaned.

"I imagine that's who I am talking about," Byakuya didn't seem that amused by Grimmjow's nicknames.

"Plus, he was supposed to keep an eye on me," Gin mentioned.

"It's not as though you were being discrete," Byakuya mentioned.

"You're trying to recruit Kira, Shuuhei, and Renji?" Ichigo asked.

"Renji Abarai seemed hardest to communicate with," Byakuya said to Ichigo. "Do you have any suggestions?"

"Er...well I mean, he knows that you're Rukia's brother...and that you dated me...so he pretty much thought you were hitting on him," Ichigo explained. "I mean, you told him you had something he might be interested in and then tried to set up dinner plans with him."

"Oh," Byakuya said, thinking back to the words he had used. "I suppose I could see that. He does blush a lot when I speak to him."

"You...dated...Ichigo?" Grimmjow was a little shocked.

"Ichigo, you seriously are attracting a weird bunch," Shunsui said, taking a seat. "I can show you what you're doing wrong if you want me to."

"I hope I'm not included in that sentiment," Byakuya stated irritated both in that he'd been called "weird" and that he'd been compared to Gin and Grimmjow.

"And I'm just doing it to annoy Grimmjow," Gin admitted.

"Well, then, if it's just the Espada, then yes, the offer still stands," Shunsui said.

Grimmjow tried to glare at the man but Shunsui just smirked back at him.

The plan was fairly simple now that the legalities had been taken care of. Gin would be leading a small group of counterintelligence men, headed by Nnoitra and Grimmjow. Byakuya would also be leading a small group. Ichigo would be going as intel but staying out of any firefight. Once the logistics got worked out, everyone stretched their legs and hid their yawns and filed out.

Grimmjow hung back, and Nnoitra with him. Grimmjow was happy to see that Byakuya was one of the last people to leave. "Hey," he spoke to the man.

"What do you want?" Byakuya asked, his voice dripping with disdain.

"Ichigo apprehended me breaking and entering his place once, and he locked me up using several pairs of handcuffs. He told me that the reason he had them around was because one of his previous boyfriends was kinky and into it. I don't suppose you're that boyfriend, are you?" Grimmjow asked with a wide grin. No matter what he was expecting to get a big reaction from the man. His smile began to slip when Byakuya didn't seem to react at all.

Finally Byakuya turned towards Grimmjow. "I suppose that means you haven't had the chance to find out that he really enjoys being tied up. He likes being restrained, and he loves being forced to beg." With that he left the room.

Whatever Grimmjow had been expecting, it hadn't been that. Instead of pissing him off, which is what he imagined the black haired man was going for, it really..._he could just see Ichigo underneath him, handcuffed to the bed with his hands above his head, a slight sheen of sweat across his chest. "Please, Grimmjow...Please..."_

"Like I need to fucking watch ya get turned on," Nnoitra said, shoving Grimmjow, breaking him out of his daydream.

"It's just my gift to you," Grimmjow replied cockily. "So that you can bask in my magnificence."

"Ya have always sucked at giving gifts."

* * *

_A/N: Next chapter the raid, Aizen, more Espada!_


	11. Raid

**Raid**

_A/N: Finally, right? This is a little short, but I promise it'll be intense =)_

* * *

Aizen's main compound wasn't underground or secreted away on an island or anything. It was in plain sight, and looked kind of like a library from the outside. Anyone even approaching the building would be in for a surprise though and according to what Grimmjow and Nnoitra had said, the inside was practically a labyrinth, full of rotating walls and hidden passage ways, surveillance, and guards.

Ichigo could tell Byakuya wasn't really happy to be working with Nnoitra, Grimmjow, and Gin, but he did his duty, laying out the plan and separating the team into smaller teams; Team 1, Team 2, and Team 3 and Team 4. Team 5 was off site and Team 6 was monitoring communications for all teams and broadcasting updated information as it came in. Much to Grimmjow's disapproval, Ichigo was with Team 1, under Byakuya. Much to Byakuya's annoyance, Ichigo had pulled aside Grimmjow to convince him to go along with it, sealing his argument with a searing kiss in front of everyone.

"Still got feelings for the kid?" Nnoitra asked with a smile.

"Keep your mouth shut, espada," Byakuya responded. "Emotions shouldn't have any play on the battlefield. We are on a mission, it is unprofessional."

Nnoitra just laughed at him.

They waited in their vans for final clearance.

"It's a go," Byakuya said, then repeated it into his collar mounted com system. He waited for confirmation from all teams, and then they began. There was a burst of static in everyone's mics as the communications team shut down power in the main building.

Gin's Team 3 moved quickly towards the rear of the building while Byakuya's Team 1 and Grimmjow's Team 2 took the front entrance. Nnoitra's Team 4 began placing explosives on the side of building to make their own door. There was a brief firefight as the grounds guard's came out to investigate the power outage, but it was done quickly and almost silently.

Once inside the grounds, Teams 1 and 2 stuck together, following Grimmjow's lead as he walked down the long white hallways. Emergency lights buzzed as they flickered on above their heads, and doors began to come from the ceiling to block off certain areas as the entire building went into lock down.

"One problem with all the revolving halls is that with the stupid maze this place is, even in lock down, if someone knows what they're doing, they can find a way in," Grimmjow said with a grin, leading them through a series of turns that almost seemed to backtrack on itself. They wound up in a large hall. Both teams froze as they saw people approaching from across the long room.

"Zommari Rureaux, 7th espada," Grimmjow told Ichigo.

"No," Ichigo replied, indicating that the man was an enemy.

"I'll handle this," Byakuya said. Speed was of the essence, which is why they had so many teams. If they took too long, no doubt Aizen would escape. "Go ahead."

"Ichigo is coming with me," Grimmjow stated.

"No," Byakuya said, not looking away from the approaching men.

"How will I know who to trust?" Grimmjow pointed out.

"I'm going, you focus on this," Ichigo told Byakuya. Byakuya made a small noise as being given an almost order but didn't stop Ichigo as he began to leave with Team 2.

"GRIMMJOW!" Zommari yelled at Grimmjow's retreating back.

"He is not who you should be worried about," Byakuya told the man. "Stand down or I will cut you down."

* * *

"Almost there," Grimmjow said as his team rushed through the compound towards Aizen's office. He knew that the man was too proud...or arrogant...to leave it until absolutely necessary. They pulled up to a full stop as they saw a lone figure at the end of the hall, standing tall, his weapon drawn and aimed. No one wants to be looking a grenade launcher in the face in a confined space. "Don't do anything stupid," Grimmjow said, both to the man and to his team. He didn't know how trigger happy these borrowed men were.

"Starrk Coyote, number 1 espada," Grimmjow said to Ichigo, really hoping he wasn't going to have to face off against the man, especially at such a disadvantage.

"We have your daughter," Ichigo told the man.

Starrk tensed.

"I don't mean that as a threat," Ichigo assured him. "I just mean that we've rescued her from where Aizen has been keeping her."

Starrk lowered the launcher from his shoulder slightly.

"That's fucked up," Grimmjow said. "Aizen had Lilynette? You said she was off at boarding school."

"I stepped in something I shouldn't have," Starrk said. "Lilynette was a casualty of that."

"Can I get my phone?" Ichigo asked.

"Careful," Starrk warned him.

Ichigo nodded and slowly took out his phone and dialed it. He put it on speaker phone and held it out towards the man.

"Lilynette?" Starrk called out.

"Starrk!" the girl cried out. "Starrk! Are you ok? You didn't get shot did you, you big idiot? No one will tell me anything!"

"I'm fine," Starrk assured her. "You?"

"It was boring but nothing happened," Lilynette told him.

"Do you feel safe right now?"

"Gum drops and rainbows," Lilynette said, in what Ichigo had to assume was some sort of code, unless she really talked like that. Whatever it was, Starrk lowered the weapon completely and placed it on the ground with care.

"He'll be by to see you soon," Ichigo said into the phone.

"See you soon then, Lily," Starrk said.

Ichigo hung up.

"Did you mean that?" Starrk asked.

"Of course," Ichigo said.

"What are you here for?" Starrk addressed his question to Grimmjow.

"Aizen's ass," Grimmjow told him.

"Well then, have fun," Starrk said, slowly walking away. No one stopped him.

"She's just outside in a blue car," Ichigo called out.

"What a bastard," Grimmjow growled. Ichigo looked at him. "Who takes a child hostage?"

"Isn't that what you guys do?" Ichigo said archly.

Grimmjow restrained himself from slapping Ichigo upside the head. He was sure how the intelligence men around him would react to it. Instead he just glared daggers at him and they moved on, taking out a couple roving guards along the way with tranquilizer darts.

"This is such a pussy way of fighting," Grimmjow complained.

"Hey, they aren't all bad, and you're going to want a department after Aizen is gone," Ichigo pointed out.

* * *

"Repeat, do you need backup?" Byakuya said into his com.

"Fuck you, I'm fine!" Nnoitra said, gunfire in the background. "SHIT!" he yelled and there was what sounded like a small explosion.

"Idiot," Byakuya said. "Team 6, please relay Team 4's location."

"Barragan you bastard! Let's see how much blood you have in those old dry bones!" Nnoitra yelled, still coming in over the speaker to Byakuya.

"Southwest of your current location," came Team 6's response.

"On my way," Byakuya said, motioning his team to move forward.

* * *

Grimmjow's team came across Gin's just as he was preparing to breach Aizen's office.

"Do you suppose he's still in there?" Gin said with a smile.

"Let's find out," Grimmjow grinned. They backed up and waited for the pop as the explosive blew the hinges off the door. Grimmjow kicked the door in almost gleefully.

Both teams stopped. Aizen was simply sitting as his desk. He looked up as if barely interested in what was happening.

"Yes?" he asked calmly.

"I hate that," Grimmjow said quietly.

"I agree, it's very annoying to go through so much work and not get a payoff," Gin agreed.

"At least look surprised you bastard!" Grimmjow yelled at his boss.

"Why, hello there," Aizen said, looking at Ichigo. "Are you Ichigo Kurosaki?"

"You know I am," Ichigo said. "I'm pretty sure that a picture of me you're looking at right now."

"Ah well, it's good to have manners," Aizen said, "and we haven't been formally introduced."

Grimmjow looked over and Gin, wondering what course of action to take. It seemed like they had the man severely outnumbered, but if that was the case, why was he so calm? Was he just bluffing? If they walked forward would they all be walking into a trap of some sort? Was the place rigged with explosives or gas? Hell, Grimmjow wouldn't put it past Aizen to have a fucking trap door in his floor.

Ichigo stepped forward.

"Ichigo!" Grimmjow yelled out.

Ichigo stopped walking halfway between the Aizen at the invaders.

"Tell me, do you want a job?" Aizen asked. "I'm quite impressed with your performance."

"A job?" Ichigo queried.

"Stop fucking talking to him and get out of the line of fire," Grimmjow muttered lowly, his weapon still aimed at the ground.

Gin was examining the room, trying to figure out exactly what, if anything, Aizen had hidden in it.

"I pay well, it's a fun work environment, and we have a great retirement plan," Aizen said with a smile. "Plus, all the power you can steal."

"Hm," Ichigo said.

Ok, so Ichigo is trying to stall for time so we can work out a plan of attack, Grimmjow thought. He looked over at Gin to see if he had figured out Aizen's angle yet. Gin shook his head and continued to scan the room. He hadn't found anything either.

"Exactly what would I be doing?" Ichigo asked Aizen.

"Why don't you be my second in command? My current one seems to be broken," Aizen said, looking at Gin.

"That doesn't sound too bad," Ichigo agreed.

"Of course, I need you to fire him first," Aizen suggested.

"Absolutely," Ichigo said.

"Ichi..." Grimmjow began. Ichigo whirled around. He hadn't been allowed to carry a weapon into the raid, but he was now reaching into the arm sling that was holding his cast.

Things went in slow motion for Grimmjow as his adrenaline pushed his senses to the limit. There was a small gun in Ichigo's hands. He pointed it at Gin's chest and fired twice. Grimmjow could see the small caliber weapon bucking in Ichigo's hands. Ichigo was rushing towards him now, Grimmjow began to raise his own weapon, but Ichigo was behind him.

"I surrender myself to you," Ichigo said quickly, throwing his weapon down, keeping Grimmjow's body between the intelligence teams and himself.

"W-what?" Grimmjow's mind was reeling.

"Arrest me, and for fuck's sake don't let Aizen run off either," Ichigo said.

* * *

_A/N: Muhahahaha!_


	12. Holding Cell

**Holding Cell**

* * *

"I don't understand," Rangiku said to the boy in the chair, tears in her eyes. He looked at her sadly and opened her mouth.

"Look," Grimmjow said as he burst in. He had watched on the monitors for awhile before going in himself. "I know you're close to Ichimaru, but it's not an accident that he's not dead."

"He shot him twice in the chest!" Rangiku's voice broke.

"He hit him near where the shoulder connects to the arm, perfectly matched on either side. Obviously planned on, and a painful and incapacitating wound, but not fatal when he knew that Gin would have medical attention immediately."

Rangiku paused and looked back at Ichigo, who wasn't meeting her eyes.

"I used to babysit you when you were little. Can't you at least tell me why you did it?" Rangiku asked.

Ichigo just looked to the side.

"Where you just following Aizen's orders?" she pressed.

He looked up, anger in his eyes. "Follow orders from the man who ordered the death of my mother? What the hell do you think?"

"Then...why..."

Grimmjow wanted to the know the same thing. It's not like he had a personal stake in it as far as Gin was concerned, but he felt...betrayed.

"Can I talk to him alone?" Grimmjow asked the blond women. She nodded and left.

"I'm sorry it's like this," Ichigo said quietly just before she left.

Grimmjow waited until Rangiku was out of the room before slamming his fist into Ichigo's face. Ichigo groaned and fell sidewise out of his chair, not able to stop himself from slamming into the ground because of his bound hands. Men burst into the room, grabbing at Grimmjow.

"Get the hell out," Ichigo yelled. Grimmjow was surprised to note that he was yelling at the guards and not him. They all looked at him in shock. "It's fine," Ichigo said. "Just get me back up, I'm on my broken ribs and it hurts like hell."

Grimmjow felt a stab of guilt for hitting the boy, but he just hadn't been able to hold back anymore. He picked up Ichigo and set him on the chair, the only piece of furniture in the stark holding cell. The guards reluctantly left.

"I'm surprised that the department even let you in here," Ichigo said.

"I think they're hoping that I'll rough you up so that they don't have to," Grimmjow admitted.

"And are you?" Ichigo asked.

"No."

"You sure? You already have a good start," Ichigo said, his eyes far more twinkling and teasing than they should have been in such a grave situation.

"I was just angry. I'm sorry. I'll wait until you're free to wail on you the rest of the way," Grimmjow told him.

"Oh yeah, I'm sure I'll just be walking home by evening," Ichigo said.

Grimmjow sighed.

"You're so full of shit that I have no idea when you've ever told the truth," Grimmjow stated.

"I'm not a dishonest person at heart," Ichigo said quietly.

"You just like using people."

"I didn't use you. Hell, you're the one that came to me, remember?" Ichigo reminded Grimmjow. "I tried to get you the hell away from me. Like I needed that kind of complication."

"Did you...ever really like me?" Grimmjow hated to ask the question in front of all the cameras and recording equipment. He knew it made him sound weak. But he had to know.

"Didn't I say we shouldn't wait until after the raid?" Ichigo said.

"Yeah you did, but was that just subterfuge or..."

"Grimmjow, I'm sorry it's like this."

"You said that to her too," Grimmjow pointed out.

"I meant it both times."

"I'm supposed to question you."

"And you already started, starting with yourself first," Ichigo said with a small smile. "I really hope you forgive me after all of this."

"I don't know how great an 'after this' is gonna be for you," Grimmjow told him.

"Can I get a kiss?" Ichigo asked.

Grimmjow looked at the bound by, wondering what sort of trap this was.

"Really? Like there's anything I could do at this point," Ichigo laughed.

"You're pretty tricky, I wouldn't put it past you," Grimmjow replied.

"Please?"

Grimmjow sighed as he looked at Ichigo. He knew that he wanted to kiss him, to hold him, to try and convince him to tell him what the hell was going on. He just was tired of being made a fool of. But looking into Ichigo's eyes he couldn't help himself. He leaned over Ichigo's chair and kissed him, moaning slightly at impossible softness of those lips, those lips that were slightly ripped and torn from Ichigo biting them, lips that had no right to be soft and so yielding.

"Grimmjow, does it mean anything to you that I completely trust you now?" Ichigo said, his voice low against Grimmjow's neck as he held Ichigo in an embrace.

"Not enough to tell me the truth."

"If it was just the two of us here, I would tell you," Ichigo promised.

"Want to go to dinner?" Grimmjow asked.

"A date?" Ichigo laughed lightly.

"Yeah. We'll grab some Italian and then see a movie," Grimmjow said.

"Sure, why not tonight? Seems I'm free," Ichigo joked. Grimmjow sighed and buried his face into Ichigo's bright hair. "We were never going to be normal," Ichigo said.

"Yeah well maybe I thought we could at least have a chance."

"Was that before or after you framed me for hacking and got me arrested?"

"That plan was over a long time ago, Ichigo. You know that," Grimmjow protested. He straightened up and pulled away from Ichigo.

Ichigo sighed, seeing Grimmjow's face become stern and official.

"Who do you work for?" Grimmjow asked.

Ichigo said nothing.

"On who's orders did you shoot Gin Ichimaru?"

Silence.

"Are you working with Sosuke Aizen?"

"No," Ichigo said firmly.

"With counter-intelligence?"

"No," Ichigo said again.

"Are you fucking insane?" Grimmjow said, a little anger coming through.

"No," Ichigo said with a half smile.

Grimmjow knocked on the door and it opened up. He talk briefly to one of the men on the other side, who returned with a syringe.

"It won't hurt," Grimmjow said.

Hours later and there was still nothing. Ichigo hadn't been this stubborn on whatever Szayel had given him. Or had he? He had said he wasn't working for anyone then either, and he obviously was. Kisuke Urahara was missing, Nnoitra had broken into his home to be sure that the man wasn't hiding out anywhere.

Grimmjow got ready to leave. He knew that Yamamoto and the others probably expected him to use questionable means to interrogate Ichigo, but the truth was he had never been into that and he couldn't force himself to even think about using those means against Ichigo. Ichigo, who despite everything, looked up at him wide eyed with an almost innocence about him. Grimmjow wondered how he pulled it off, and why he didn't hate the kid, why he half felt like grabbing him off his chair and rushing out the door with him. Not that he'd make it far. He just wish that Ichigo would give him a reason to believe in him. Grimmjow wasn't the type to trust blindly, but Ichigo wasn't giving him a leg to stand on.

"I'll miss you," Ichigo said, with a slight slur, still under the effects of the various drugs that Grimmjow had given him to loosen him up.

"I'll be back tomorrow," Grimmjow said quietly.

* * *

"Yeah?" Nnoitra answered the phone, gasping and breathing heavily.

"Nnoitra, I just talked to..." Grimmjow paused. "Am I interrupting anything?" he said with a small laugh.

"Oh no, not interrupting at all," Nnoitra said with a deep groan.

Grimmjow's jaw fell. "What the fuck! Either stop and answer the phone or just keep going, don't do both you freak!"

He heard a slight shuffling in the background and Shiro's voice came over the phone. "Is Ichigo ok?" he asked, breathing hard himself.

"He's...not answering questions," Grimmjow said. He wasn't surprised that Shiro knew what was going on. Supposedly the whole thing was top secret but it's not like Nnoitra could keep anything from Shiro if Shiro really wanted information, and he would obviously be concerned about not being able to contact his cousin.

"You didn't do anything to him, did ya?" Shiro's voice was dangerous.

"Of course not," Grimmjow said.

"Well, ya should've at least given a good punch ta the face!" Shiro said with a little anger.

"Ah well, I did do that, but it wasn't to get questions out of him. I was just pissed."

"What's gonna happen to him?"

"I don't know. It helps that a lot of people like him, but he's not cooperating in the slightest," Grimmjow said with a deep sigh.

"Sorry I let that crazy shop keeper get away. I didn't know that I should've kept an eye on 'em," Shiro said.

"Naw, it's ok," Grimmjow said. "He probably would've just poisoned you somehow if you had been more on the ball." He paused. "Now why the hell would you let Nnoitra answer the phone while fucking you?"

"I like punishing him for it later," Shiro laughed.

* * *

Grimmjow had trouble waking up the next morning. He was glad at least that they were letting him be in charge of most of the questioning, but he knew if he didn't get any results that they'd change to someone else. They knew that they two were close and had been hoping that would make Ichigo open up to Grimmjow.

He...does like me though, Grimmjow thought to himself. At least that's one area I wasn't hoodwinked in. It was so stupid of me to have gotten so involved. This is why relationships suck. And what am I going to do when they haul him away to some god forsaken prison? No, someone with as much information as he has will never be put with other people. They'll just pass him along until someone finds out a way to break him, a way to use his information.

Ichigo you idiot...

Grimmjow got dressed slowly and headed back towards the intelligence headquarters. Ichigo was being held just down the hall from where both had been held earlier.

What a difference between then and now though, Grimmjow thought grimly. He smelled smoke and stopped, looking around him before looking up.

"Oh my god," he said out loud, seeing the smoke billow from the tall building.

Damn it, he thought, running up countless flights of stairs. The elevators had been automatically shut down. He gasped for breath by the time he got to the right floor. He looked at the biometric scanner and hoped someone had had the good sense to put his information into whatever security system they had in place. He lay his hand on the device and was happy to the see the door pop open. Inside were two guards, looking skittish. They raised their weapons at Grimmjow but were stopped by a voice at the end of the hall. It was the long haired man who ran the crime and narcotics department. Grimmjow briefly searched his memory.

"Thank you Kyoraku," Grimmjow said, remembering the man's name. "What happened?"

Shunsui didn't answer, merely turned and gestured for Grimmjow to follow. Emergency personal were running around and the air smelled acidic. Shunsui stopped in front of a door. Grimmjow swallowed nervously as he realized that it was Ichigo's door. The door swung open to reveal...nothing. There was hardly even a room anymore. Grimmjow could see the street below through the hole in the wall and took a step back. Burn marks lined the wall.

"Did he...is he ok?" Grimmjow asked.

"Who knows? He's certainly not here," Shunsui said dryly. "And...neither is Gin Ichimaru."

"What?"

"Taken by helicopters right out the side of the building," Shunsui said. "Guess we should've put them underground, but then again, we didn't really expect this. Of course the real question is, did friendlies grab them or were they nabbed by Aizen's forces...or even another country's forces."

"He...knew..." Grimmjow said. "He told me good-bye. It sounded...final."

"Well then, at least that hopefully means he's safe."

"He's your enemy," Grimmjow stated, not just for Shunsui's sake, but his own.

"Doesn't mean I want him hurt."

* * *

"Yoruichi," Director Yamamoto said into his office phone. He had stopped his pacing finally.

"Why hello! Haven't talked to you in awhile," the woman greeted him warmly. Loud machinery whirred in the background.

"Just tell me...that's he's ok."

"He's ok. He looks kind of hungry but I'll fix that."

"He's there then?" Yamamoto asked. Yoruichi didn't answer. "Where are you exactly?"

"Oh I don't know, there's lots of water underneath us though," Yoruichi replied.

Flying still then, Yamamoto thought.

"I imagine the police department might be a little upset with you," he said. "I sincerely doubt that they like being used in this fashion."

"Oh, I think it'll be alright," Yoruichi assured him.

Yamamoto sighed.

"One day I'll buy you some sake and we can go over the whole thing, 'k?" Yoruichi said. "Off the record of course."

"Until then," Yamamoto said.

"Until then," Yoruichi replied, disconnecting the line.

* * *

_A/N: Next chapter: lots of explanation (finally!)_


	13. Familiar Face

**Familiar Face**

* * *

After everything, Grimmjow couldn't believe when his phone rang early Monday morning and Officer Ochi told him to remember to go to his classes that day. He honestly hadn't have even remembered that he was supposed to be a teacher after the last couple of days. He had barely slept that night as his mind turned over the events he'd just been through, trying to make sense of them, and trying to forget his last kiss with Ichigo.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Grimmjow rasped into the phone, rubbing at his eyes sleepily.

"Of course not," Officer Ochi said. "You're still required around another 40 hours of community service according to my logs."

Grimmjow groaned and agreed he'd be at the college.

* * *

Honestly, it had been kind of nice to have something distract him. The last couple of weeks would have been hell if he hadn't been able to spend his time pouring over student projects. Nnoitra was annoyingly perky whenever Grimmjow saw him. Grimmjow knew he was still seeing Ichigo's cousin Shiro, but he couldn't make fun of him for it because whenever he did Nnoitra would simply point out that at least he was getting some and hadn't been make an idiot of.

The last day of school, Grimmjow looked out over his last class with a sigh. Ichigo's friends had still attended of course. He had already asked them where Ichigo was, under the pretense of finding a wayward student who had stopped attending classes. Of course, he had already told the students he could care less if they actually attended as long as they got their projects in. Renji had told him Ichigo had gone on vacation to the United States to visit family there.

"He told you that or someone else did?" Grimmjow had asked.

Renji had just looked at him weird and Grimmjow pretended to not notice that Renji didn't answer the question. He suppose it didn't really matter.

"Alright class," Grimmjow said, standing up from behind his desk. "I assume you all got your final project done so there's no real reason for you to be here. Make sure it gets on my desk or in my office by the end of the day and get the hell out."

The students grinned, happy to get out class early, and filed out.

Grimmjow leaned back and closed his eyes after the last student had left. His phone rang, jolting him slightly. Not that many people had his number. He wondered if it was Officer Ochi again.

"Hello," he answered.

"So is the school falling apart without me?"

"Gin? Why the hell are you calling me?" Grimmjow asked. "Where are you?"

"Is that any way to talk to your new boss?" Gin said.

"My new...shit, really?" Grimmjow groaned. "Too bad Ichigo didn't shoot a couple of inches to the right or the left."

"My Ichi would never do that," Gin replied.

"What? Seriously, what the fuck is going on?" Grimmjow questioned his superior.

"I'm sure it'll all be clearer to you pretty soon," Gin answered. Grimmjow heard a click and stared at his phone in disbelief. It took a lot for him to not smash the phone into the ground. After almost a month, that's all the explanation he was going to get?

I didn't even get a chance to ask about Ichigo, Grimmjow thought to himself. He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't hear the door creaking open. A student threw a disk onto his desk.

"You look stressed."

Grimmjow's eyes went wide and he looked up. "Ichigo?"

"So are you more curious or angry?" Ichigo asked casually, with a small smile tracing his lips.

"What the fuck Ichigo!" Grimmjow jumped up. "What the hell are you doing here? You know that I'm still being tracked by the police, and now you probably have the whole intelligence department on your ass too. Get the hell out before they come for you!"

"Concerned more than anything, huh?" Ichigo said. "That's actually incredibly sweet."

"Are you insane?"

"I'm clear," Ichigo replied. "You think I'd come back here if I thought I was going to be locked up?"

Grimmjow was standing now, arms distance from Ichigo. Gin...he had to have known. The call was so close in timing.

"Before you decide anything," Ichigo said. "At least let me explain myself."

Grimmjow clenched his fists, and could feel his jaw tighten.

"Please, at least a chance," said Ichigo.

Grimmjow nodded, and allowed himself to be led down the hall. He still didn't say anything as Ichigo drove him to a fancy hotel, bypassing the front desk and going straight up to a room.

The door closed and Ichigo and Grimmjow were alone, Grimmjow still staring at the back of Ichigo's head. Ichigo turned swiftly, pressing into Grimmjow with a passionate kiss. Grimmjow almost lost his balance and wrapped his arms around Ichigo to steady himself, Ichigo still insistently moving on his lips. Grimmjow groaned and kissed back with abandon, pulling Ichigo towards him even more tightly. He felt himself being pulled towards the bed and walked forward, collapsing onto it as Ichigo pushed him down.

"N-no," Grimmjow got out as their mouths finally separated.

Ichigo was ignoring him, his hands under Grimmjow shirt. Grimmjow quickly grabbed those caressing hands, holding them still in his own.

"Talk first," Grimmjow stated, still panting.

"Are you sure?" Ichigo said with a smile, his knee pressing into Grimmjow's growing arousal. "You seem like you missed me."

"I don't know that I can trust you at all," Grimmjow replied.

Ichigo's smile faded. "Yeah. I'm sorry. Let's talk first. Um...tea?"

"Fuck tea."

Ichigo raised an eyebrow at Grimmjow's vehement reaction.

"Aizen loved tea and would force us to drink it all the time," Grimmjow explained. "How about coffee?"

Luckily the hotel had provided a small packet of coffee to be brewed by the small coffeepot in the kitchenette. The two sat at the small table in the hotel room, nursing their warm drinks.

"Where to start?" Ichigo asked.

"Who do you work for?" Grimmjow asked.

"Interpol."

"Inter...what the hell? When you were under Szayel's drug you said that you didn't work for any government agency," Grimmjow sputtered.

"You think that I've been hanging around someone like Kisuke Urahara and had never learned how to deal with drugs like the one I was given? I've been trained in how to resist questioning. Besides, Interpol isn't a government agency last time I check."

"Your drug addled brain could really make so fine a distinction? Besides, you spilled about the Hogyoku encryption," Grimmjow pointed out.

"Which I had already told you about," Ichigo stated.

"None of the intelligence officers, people that were even your friends, knew anything about it," Grimmjow said.

"Director Yamamoto knew. Why do you think he drew me to a private room for questioning when I showed up wounded? Why would I have been allowed to go to the raid in the first place? And do you really think that Yamamoto is so lax in his standards that he'd let a close friend or family member into his private office when it's illegal to allow anyone under top secret clearance even into the building?" Ichigo asked.

"You're so young though," Grimmjow said. "Does this mean that Urahara is with Interpol too?"

"No. He's the one who recruited me after finding out that I had cracked his code, but he doesn't work for them. You could say he has close connections with some of the higher ups in the organization though."

"Who do you report to?"

"Well, I was obviously working with Director Yamamoto on this case, but in general I report to Yoruichi Shihoin," Ichigo told Grimmjow as he took another sip of coffee.

"Fucking..." Grimmjow was starting to get pissed. "Hey, should you even be telling me all of this?"

"I thought you wanted to know."

"Well, yeah, but..."

"Well as long as you keep your big mouth closed we'll be ok," Ichigo told the espada.

"So you guys were after Aizen? What did he do? I know that you guys can't get involved in anything political."

"Actually, we weren't after Aizen after all," Ichigo admitted.

"What?" Grimmjow was shocked.

"You see, our trails all led to Aizen, but as we got closer, or more specifically as I worked with Gin, I realized that it wasn't Aizen that we wanted."

"Why the hell did you shoot Gin anyways?"

"In a minute," Ichigo waved away the question. "We've been seeing signs of tampering for some time now. Guns given to militias, coups planned way more effectively than the troops that took over could account for, rebellions supported, uprising in normally peaceful areas, drug traffickers assassinated with expert precision in their own homes."

"Why would you care about drug dealers getting picked off?"

"Well, someone was doing it. It's still murder," Ichigo shrugged.

"And it wasn't Aizen?"

"It was someone close to him," Ichigo said.

"And not Gin?" Grimmjow was more shocked about that fact than the fact that it wasn't Aizen.

"It was Kaname Tosen," Ichigo told him.

"We caught him," Grimmjow eyes narrowed. "He was arrested during the raid."

"DNA proved that to be a double. So, I've actually failed my mission so far."

"You're kidding," Grimmjow said.

"Not only that, but evidence points to the double having been there instead of Tosen for at least a month."

"How the hell did he know that you were coming after him?" Grimmjow wondered.

"That...is a very good question," Ichigo said grimly.

"A leak then? Or did someone somehow get access to your files?"

"It's not like we're a very big organization. I really hope it wasn't a leak," Ichigo stated. "But it's not like a information drain would be any better."

"If Gin isn't in on this, why did you shoot him?"

"Gin knows who I am, I told him almost right away."

"That seems pretty stupid to me," Grimmjow complained.

"I happen to know that Gin has a very personal reason to hate Aizen, and at the time we still thought that he was our big bad baddie. Even after we realized that it was Kaname Tosen that we wanted, we offered up our information to Yamamoto to help them remove Aizen. Just because he wasn't the international war criminal we thought he was, doesn't mean he wasn't a completely dangerous person. We made a deal with Director Yamamoto. We give him Aizen, we would get Tosen. Actually, the United States would get Tosen, since we don't keep prisoners. The CIA had him high on their hit list and were dying to get their hands on him, assuming we could prove that he was who we said he was."

"Still haven't heard why you shot him. He didn't seem angry about it when I talked to him," Grimmjow said. "Which is truly bizarre."

"You know that people like us, we have a sixth sense almost. A sense that someone wants us, like a danger alarm that goes of in our head when we're around someone with murderous intent," Ichigo stated.

Grimmjow nodded. They had all felt it the second that they had walked into Aizen's office, which is why both he and Gin had frozen in place, trying to figure out where it was coming from.

"I was closer to Aizen than you two were," Ichigo said. "You know that huge brass relief that Aizen has over his desk?"

"I've always told him that it would kill him during an earthquake," Grimmjow said with a grin. The thing looked like it weighted a ton and covered almost the whole wall. Grimmjow had thought it a little egotistical for Aizen to have it, like his office was a temple or something.

"I saw a glint coming off of it."

"So what? The whole thing is metal," Grimmjow mentioned.

"No, I knew it was a gun. I could see a slight protrusion," Ichigo replied.

"That's a big leap to make."

"I hate guns, I know when one is being pointed at me," Ichigo said.

Grimmjow remembered how shocked the intelligence directors had been that Ichigo had shot someone, saying something about how they thought he was scared of guns.

"So you shot Gin?"

"The hole was small, only a limited firing range. I knew that the sniper was after either after Gin or I, both of us being well within range. Shooting Gin was a distraction. Either the person was after Gin Ichimaru, and would think he was taken out by me, or the person was after me and would be taken aback by my shooting Gin and moving quickly out of range."

"You hid behind me? What if they had shot me too you idiot!" Grimmjow said angrily.

"You were behind a pillar, remember? You ducked there the second I fired on Gin, acting out of instinct. We were both protected, even assuming that somehow the sniper was able to get that far to the right or left, which I highly doubt."

"So fucking chancy," Grimmjow groaned.

"Remember the off site team? Team 5?"

"Yeah..."

"All my own men," Ichigo stated. "I had them free Lilynette to use as an exchange for Starrk, and then leave her in the front for him to pick her up."

"I remember that, but I didn't know that those guys were yours."

"The intelligence guys probably assumed that they were counterintelligence, and you guys assumed it was more intelligence men," Ichigo said with a slightly smug smile. "They moved in quickly after leaving the girl."

Grimmjow remembered the panic after Ichigo shot Gin. Nnoitra and Byakuya's teams had closed in fairly soon after, they had arrested Aizen, Gin was getting emergency care on the ground, and Ichigo was in cuffs surrounded by men. Grimmjow could vaguely remember Ichigo talking to one of them.

"You gave them orders to go after the sniper?" Grimmjow guessed.

"Yes, but she was already long gone. She had even abandoned her weapon, so we were able to trace who it was."

"She? So it was..."

"It was Tia Hallibel, the third espada," Ichigo stated, his eyes flaring slightly, his lips drawn into a grim line.

"You know her?"

"You could say that I have a very personal grudge against her."

"How is that?" Grimmjow asked.

"She's the one that killed my mother."


	14. Payback

**Payback**

_A/N: Ok, I said this would be the last chapter and then I'd do a sequel, but instead I'm going to just keep everything together and do arcs. It's easier than making everyone go to different fics all the time. So Arc 1: "Who is Ichigo?" is over with this chapter. There will be about two chapters after this as in interlude into the next arc. Arc 2 will be about Ichigo and co. going after Hallibel. I'll give a little description of the Hallibel arc at the end of this chapter. Also, I really did try to write her name using "r" but it just looks silly to me, and people tend to not call her Tia._

_Also, there's a lemon in this chapter (I think the boys might throttle me if I didn't let them indulge themselves finally)._

* * *

"Hallibel killed your mother?" Grimmjow repeated in shock. "Why?"

"Well, we think Aizen gave the order, but I'm not sure why. My father was a former intelligence officer, actually pretty high up, and my mother was an ex-CIA agent. However, she had only been a desk jockey and didn't really rank, not to mention that she hadn't been a part of the agency since shortly before she married my father. I've double checked with the CIA records, and she was not active and hadn't been for a decade," Ichigo explained.

Grimmjow could tell that Ichigo was trying to relay the facts as stoically as possible, but he could see how hard Ichigo was now gripping his coffee cup. "So," Grimmjow said after a couple of moments of silence. "I know Harribel is on your personal shit list, but does Interpol want her?"

"Actually, we think she's been working with Kaname Tosen the whole time," Ichigo stated.

"So then you do still get to go after her."

"Absolutely," Ichigo said grimly.

"Why did you come back?" Grimmjow asked.

"Well, I came back to Karakura because I live here," Ichigo said. "Besides, I have to keep up my grades. I needed to turn in my final projects."

"Oh yeah, for that video game career you're going into," Grimmjow replied sarcastically.

"Hey, I'm pretty good at it," Ichigo retorted.

"You're not going to be able to pal around college with your friends for too much longer," Grimmjow said seriously.

"I know that," Ichigo said. "Most likely I'll be leaving in a few months once we've tracked Hallibel."

"You're being optimistic about that. It could be years."

"You know why I really came back to class," Ichigo told Grimmjow.

"Yeah, to laugh at my shocked face."

Ichigo rolled his eyes. "Look, before I couldn't fully trust you, and even if I had I couldn't really tell you anything. I came back to tell you who I was. I didn't have to do that. I came back because I was hoping..." he trailed off, just looking at Grimmjow, who was looking at him blankly. "You know I came back for you, why are you being so difficult about it?" Ichigo finally said.

"Is it really that hard to say, kid? That you like me?" Grimmjow asked.

"I haven't really had a normal life. I've had exactly one serious relationship, and that didn't really go according to plan," Ichigo said.

Grimmjow was frowning. "What? Did that bastard Byakuya cheat on your or something?"

"No, he's not the type. It just...didn't work. Look, my point is I have a hard time opening up to people and I have a lot of very good reasons for that," Ichigo said.

"Yeah, because I'm all sunshine and rainbows over here," Grimmjow replied, looking over at Ichigo seriously.

"Can't you just be that crazy stalker/sex deprived professor who would do almost anything to get into my pants again?"

"Tell me you want me," Grimmjow said, leaning over the table, looking into Ichigo's eyes.

"I want you."

"Promise me you're not going to disappear without telling me," Grimmjow stated, getting up and walking over to Ichigo's chair.

"I won't disappear without telling you," Ichigo promised. "You know, unless I get shot or something."

Grimmjow growled. "Ichigo..." he complained.

"Sorry."

"Promise me that this won't be a one time thing," Grimmjow asked the boy sitting in front of him.

"I'd like...to have something more serious with you," Ichigo said.

Grimmjow pulled Ichigo out of the chair, leaning in close to his face, his hands on Ichigo's shoulders. "Tell me you want me again."

"I want you, Grimmjow," Ichigo said softly, his lips almost touching Grimmjow's.

Grimmjow kissed him, this time not in the desperate way he had responded before. Everything between him and Ichigo had always been hurried, so this time he took his time. His hands pulled Ichigo's body flush to his body. He eventually pulled away, but then pulled Ichigo's head towards his chest, laying his chin on Ichigo's head. "I was really worried about you," Grimmjow said quietly. "No one would tell me anything."

"I'm sorry," Ichigo murmured.

Grimmjow just held him close for awhile. He absently wondered how Ichigo's hair could be so spiky looking but still seem so soft on his face. And why the hell did he smell so good? Grimmjow buried his face in Ichigo's hair and then tickled Ichigo's ear with his nose. Ichigo shied away, squirming slightly against Grimmjow. Grimmjow automatically reacted to Ichigo's body moving against his, his fingers digging into Ichigo's back as he gave a quiet groan.

Ichigo's face was hidden as he gave a small smile. He tipped his head upward and began to lace Grimmjow's neck with feathery kisses. Grimmjow moaned, stretching his neck slightly to give Ichigo better access.

Ichigo decided to take things up a notch. The last couple of weeks had been agony. The fact that he had failed his mission and most likely completely alienated himself from Grimmjow had been a toxic combination. His bosses weren't mad at him, they were still still trying to find the leak that had given away their plan to Tosen. Yoruichi assured him that they had put a couple of very dangerous people behind bars. But...Tosen had gotten away...and above all...Hallibel had gotten away. Even though the records showed that it was most likely Aizen that had ordered the death of his mother, things weren't exactly clear. All he knew was who had pulled the trigger, and he had definitely recognized the woman in the pictures he had looked over.

Grimmjow had been interesting, challenging, fun to play with, and most of all, passionate. He liked that he could clearly see in Grimmjow's eyes when he was turning him on. He had grown tired of guessing games when he had dated Byakuya. He had grown tired of caution and poise and of having to have a clear head all the time. Of course it helped him stay alive in the field, but he wanted to lose himself in a person and be so gone that he couldn't hold back even if he wanted to.

He had wanted all of that from Grimmjow, but he knew that Grimmjow was the type that could easily hold of grudge, so...the last couple of weeks had been agony.

With all of this in mind, Ichigo began to speed up his assault on Grimmjow's neck, latching him onto him passionately. He kneaded at Grimmjow's ass and pressed up against him, knowing that pulling him closer would let him feel how hard Ichigo was.

"Ah!" Grimmjow moaned.

Taking this as a good sign, Ichigo brought his hands under Grimmjow's shirt, running his hands along the skin. Grimmjow claimed Ichigo's lips again as Ichigo began to tug Grimmjow's shirt upward, their lips separating briefly to get the piece of clothing over Grimmjow's head.

Ichigo began to slip his hands under the waistband of Grimmjow pants. His heart pounded as he got to the base of Grimmjow's penis.

Grimmjow growled and pulled out Ichigo's hands, holding them above his head, his eyes piercing into Ichigo's own. Ichigo's face was flushed and he was slightly panting. Grimmjow pushed Ichigo backward, not releasing his hands, forcing Ichigo to the bed when the boy's legs pressed up against the top of the mattress.

He fell onto Ichigo heavily. He moaned slightly as he pressed himself into Ichigo several times, rubbing his confined erection along Ichigo's trapped legs.

Grimmjow leaned back enough to quickly pull off Ichigo's shirt and made quick work of Ichigo's pants, unzipping them and pulling them and Ichigo's underwear off at the same time. He took a moment to look at the naked body underneath him, Ichigo's body was sprawled out, his legs wide, his hands on either side of him pulling at the sheets, inviting Grimmjow to fully take advantage of him.

Quickly Grimmjow removed his own remaining clothing, Ichigo watching him, his eyes gleaming with desire. He jumped back onto Ichigo, not giving him time to move, pressing the entirety of his naked body into Ichigo's bare skin. Grimmjow kissed Ichigo again, loving the feeling of Ichigo's hands on his bare back, the feeling of Ichigo's legs wrapping around his own.

Grimmjow ran his hands down Ichigo's side slowly, settling them on Ichigo's hips. He leaned down and gently tongued the head of Ichigo's cock.

"Ugh," Ichigo moaned, moving his hands down to Grimmjow head, running his fingers through the thick blue hair.

Grimmjow looked up at him with amusement lighting his bright blue eyes to an even more electric blue. Ichigo was startled by their clarity, and felt himself melt a little as Grimmjow gave a slightly twisted half smile. "Gri..." he started to say, breaking it off as Grimmjow's hot mouth fully engulfed him. "Aw, god, Grimmjow," Ichigo moaned as Grimmjow worked himself along his length with his lips and tongue.

Grimmjow played around with Ichigo awhile longer, but then pulled himself away.

"I...there's something..." Ichigo was trying to catch his breath. He was vaguely pointing off to the right.

Grimmjow found the bottle of lube easily. He knelt on the bed in front of Ichigo, pouring out some of the slick liquid onto his fingers. He paused and raised an eyebrow. "You bleach your ass?" Grimmjow asked.

"Er...yeah..." Ichigo said, slightly embarrassed.

Flashing Ichigo a grin Grimmjow gently rubbed just outside of Ichigo's hole, warming it slightly before sticking in a single digit. "So, you shave your balls and bleach your asshole just for the hell of it?"

"Not...exactly," Ichigo replied, his breath hitching slightly as Grimmjow entered a second finger. "I was just hoping to...be with you today...so I uh..."

"Got all nice and pretty for me?" Grimmjow smiled at him. "Well, I'd hate for you to get all cleaned up for nothing," Grimmjow said, pulling his fingers apart to stretch Ichigo wider. He leaned forward and kissed along Ichigo's inner thigh, eventually putting in another finger.

Ichigo was thrusting back into his fingers now, much to Grimmjow's delight. He pressed in deeply and brushed up against Ichigo's prostate, enjoying the sound of pleasure that Ichigo made. He quickly pulled out his fingers and coated his erection with more lube. Grimmjow paused a moment to look at Ichigo, then pressed himself in steadily.

"You ok?" Grimmjow said once he was seated inside. He was sure that Ichigo would have said something if something _wasn't _ok but he was trying to get his mind off of how fantastic Ichigo felt. It's been too long, Grimmjow thought to himself, relishing the warmth wrapped around him. It's been too long since I've had sex in general, and it's seemed even longer since I laid my eyes on and wanted Ichigo. After Grimmjow had gotten out of jail he had spent a couple of weekends having practically anonymous sex with various guys he had picked up in clubs. It hadn't been anything special though. It had been a long time since he had had really good fantastic sex, and he couldn't recall ever having been as into someone as he was with Ichigo.

"I'm...perfect," Ichigo replied.

"Mmm," Grimmjow agreed.

"I'm good now," Ichigo told him.

Grimmjow pulled out slowly and pushed himself back in as far as he could, feeling the strain in his legs, and loving the way Ichigo was bowed up under him. He quickly began to pick up the pace, changing his angles until he found the exact one that made Ichigo's moans become almost frantic.

"Grimmjow!" Ichigo called out.

He leaned back, his face facing upward for a moment, his eyes closed, his sweat making his hair stick to his flushed face. He opened his eyes and looked up at Grimmjow again. Grimmjow met them, loving that he for once saw a little softness and vulnerability in those brown eyes. Not breaking contact with Ichigo's eyes, he reached forward and began to pump at Ichigo's erection. He saw Ichigo's eyes go wide, watched his chest move as he gasped for air, and finally, Ichigo biting his lip as he came, only to still explode out with a final, "Grimmjow!" as the first spurt of his come hit his stomach.

Grimmjow grunted as he felt Ichigo clamp down all around him, the heat and tightness increasing to almost a painful level and then pushing him over to the top into bliss. He pressed himself as deeply as he could into Ichigo, feeling himself pump out in the body below him, watching Ichigo's eyes linger on his face and his body, taking his lover in at his moment of completion.

With closed eyes, Grimmjow panted as he held himself above Ichigo's, both their bodies now stilling. With what seemed like a herculean effort, his pulled himself out and crawled next to the redhead who was now smiling at him.

Ichigo hummed happily into Grimmjow's shoulder as he was held in a tight embrace until both of their hearts stopped racing. Grimmjow kissed Ichigo's temple and closed his eyes. Ichigo promised himself he'd get up and clean himself off, but Grimmjow didn't let him go, and he wound up drifting off into a dreamless sleep for the first time in a long time.

Grimmjow woke him up two hours later, muttering deeply filthy things into his ear as he needily rubbed at Ichigo's still naked body.

* * *

The next morning, Ichigo woke up with his hands secured to the bed frame by a pair of metal handcuffs. He looked hazily around the room, but didn't see Grimmjow. His eyes widened and his heart began to pound.

No...

Ichigo closed his eyes for a second, trying to collect himself, trying to calm down. "Grimmjow?" he asked, even though he could see that the bathroom door was open and seemed to be unoccupied. He felt something clench deep inside of him, but resisted the urge to cry. It would be better to scream, he told himself, but he wasn't feeling angry, just deeply sad.

He watched the small stream of light that was filtered between the heavy hotel curtains move its way across the floor and wondered how long he'd be stuck in this position.

He stiffened as he heard someone at the door, and tried to push at much of himself under the covers as possible so he wouldn't scare the cleaning lady more than necessary.

Grimmjow opened the door, holding a bag of food and two steaming cups of coffee.

"Grimmjow," Ichigo said, his voice giving away his relief.

"Sorry," Grimmjow apologized. "I didn't want you to run away while I was off grabbing us some food."

"I thought you had left," Ichigo admitted.

"Aw, is that why my little strawberry is so worked up?" Grimmjow said with a wide grin.

"YOUR WHAT!" Ichigo yelled.

"Wow, zero to sixty in nothing flat, eh?" Grimmjow replied with a smirk.

"Like you can talk. You probably have a worse temper than I do," Ichigo said petulantly.

"Darling then? Grimmjow asked.

"No."

"Sweetiekins?"

Ichigo rolled his eyes.

"Babycakes?"

"I hope to god that you are trying deliberately to piss me off," Ichigo moaned.

"Aw, I'm just trying to distract from the fact that I haven't unlocked your cuffs yet," Grimmjow replied.

Ichigo blinked and then looked the cuffs, then back at Grimmjow. He shook them a little to make his point.

"Nah-uh," Grimmjow said, sitting down at the table and pulling food out. He casually sipped at his coffee.

"Grimmjow," Ichigo intoned with a glower, pulling on the handcuffs.

"Hey, be gentle with those. They were a gift," Grimmjow told him.

"Who gives handcuffs as a gift?" Ichigo complained.

"You do," Grimmjow smirked.

Ichigo's face fell as he recalled leaving the cuffs on Grimmjow's desk the day after locking him to his futon.

* * *

_**Next up, **2 (or so) chapters will lead up to the next arc. Description: Shiro does something shocking and Nnoitra is up in arms. Of course, being kidnapped doesn't help things, even if you were kind of trying to get kidnapped. Unexpectedly, the situation forces Grimmjow's hand and he finally confesses to Ichigo._

_**Then**_

_**Arc 2 "Hallibel":** Everyone goes undercover to find Hallibel. Actually, she's easy to find, but hard to pin down. Ichigo and Shiro go undercover as strippers at a hostess club that Hallibel runs as a information gathering point, while Nnoitra and Grimmjow take over the local drug trade to get rep as up and coming drug traffickers._


	15. Shiro's Birthday

**Shiro's Birthday**

**(Part 1 of the mini story between Arc 1 and Arc 2)**

* * *

"Happy birthday, Shiro," Nnoitra said into the phone.

Shiro had almost let the phone go to voice mail but managed to brace himself enough to answer it. "Thanks," he said simply.

"So, ya got any plans for tonight?" Nnoitra asked.

"I was thinking...that I'd celebrate my new single life," Shiro said, trying to sound cocky.

"Yer what?"

"Don't bother coming by, I won't let ya in," Shiro told Nnoitra.

"Yer dumping me?" Nnoitra voice was even.

"Well, considering ya never really admitted we were dating, I don't know that ya can call it that. But yeah. Bye, Nnoi," Shiro hung up. He sighed and briefly put ran his fingers through his hair. He picked up the phone again. "Ichigo?"

"Hey, happy birthday!" Ichigo said cheerfully. Shiro could hear Grimmjow yelling the same thing in the background.

"Um...so remember that thing we talked about?" Shiro asked.

"You mean...you did it? On your birthday?" Ichigo was shocked.

"I wanted him ta know I was serious," Shiro was fiddling with one of his rings a little nervously. "Do ya think I made a mistake?"

"We already talked about this," Ichigo replied. "He'll probably be coming by here. I'll let you know how it goes."

"Try to keep him away from any drunken floozies," Shiro told his cousin.

"I'll try," Ichigo said.

"What was that?" Grimmjow asked when Ichigo hung up.

"Shiro broke up with Nnoitra...so...he'll either be coming here to bitch or show up late tonight drunk."

"What the fuck?" Grimmjow said. "Shiro is practically obsessed with Nnoitra."

Ichigo just gave a non-committal shrug. They finished eating lunch and started watching TV.

"I don't get it. Most people are home Sunday afternoon, so why do they play such crap?" Grimmjow complained, flipping through stations.

"Hey, my place is dinky compared to yours, but at least I have cable," Ichigo mentioned.

"Heh, yeah, and how many days has it been since you've actually been home?" Grimmjow asked.

"Well, it's not my fault the cops found a meth lab in my apartment complex. You can't complain about my company, you've probably gained ten pounds from my cooking so far," Ichigo said.

"Naw, pretty sure I worked off those calories every night," Grimmjow grinned widely.

"Like you restrain yourself to just nighttime activities," Ichigo laughed.

Grimmjow pulling Ichigo on to his lap. "Since there's nothing on TV..." he said, nuzzling at Ichigo's neck.

Neither of them heard the key at the front door.

Nnoitra didn't say hi, just plopped himself next to them on the couch.

"I have to wonder sometimes why I don't keep a gun under the sofa," Grimmjow groaned, pulling Ichigo's hands out of his pants.

"Ever heard of knocking, asshole?" Ichigo said, reaching over and smacking Nnoitra upside the head.

Nnoitra didn't respond.

"Well, I guess I shouldn't have given him a key," Grimmjow said, feeling a little awkward about his friend's uncharacteristic silence.

All of sudden Nnoitra turned and glared at Ichigo. He grabbed him by his shirt and dragged him close. "You! Ya had ta have known," Nnoitra said angrily.

"Nnoitra, get your fucking hands off of Ichigo," Grimmjow said. If he hadn't already heard about Shiro breaking up with him he would have already launched himself at the man. As it was, he was having his patience tested.

Nnoitra stared down Ichigo for awhile before letting him go. Ichigo wandered into the kitchen and grabbed some sake. He dropped it off in front of the silent pair still sitting on the couch. "I'm going to grab some beer. You guys need anything else?" he asked.

"More sake," Grimmjow said.

"Ya," Nnoitra confirmed.

Ichigo wondered how long he could stay out before they ran out of alcohol and went out on their own. It definitely wasn't something he wanted. He sighed and made his way to the liquor store.

He dropped off the drinks at Grimmjow's and decided to spend some time with Shiro. He knew that after what had happened, Shiro definitely wouldn't be going out that night, even if it was his birthday.

* * *

Ichigo came back home...well, his temporary home at Grimmjow's, late in the evening. He cautiously poked his head in, and saw Nnoitra asleep (or passed out) on the couch. He heard the water running the bathroom and decided to wait for Grimmjow in the bedroom.

"How is he doing?" Ichigo asked, his concern for his cousin's situation not diminishing his appreciation for Grimmjow's still moist naked form. He did restrain himself from pulling off his boyfriend's towel, wanting to actually talk.

"Nnoitra's right, you had to have known. So what's up?" Grimmjow said. "I thought the kid was crazy about Nnoitra."

"If I tell you, you have to promise to not say anything, ok?"

Grimmjow's eyes narrowed. "What the hell does that mean?"

Ichigo kept mum.

"Yeah, whatever, I won't tell. What the hell is going on? Did Nnoitra get drunk and cheat on him or something?" Grimmjow asked.

"Do you remember when you and Nnoitra were over here drinking, and I was studying in the next room?"

"Uh...recently?"

"Like last week," Ichigo said.

"Um...sure," Grimmjow lied.

Ichigo rolled his eyes. "You said that you were surprised that Nnoitra was still with Shiro, considering how long his relationships normally last. Nnoitra said that yeah, it was the longest he'd been with the same person and he was thinking of just leaving Shiro and moving on."

"Ichigo...he was just..."

"So I told Shiro," Ichigo said.

"Damn it, Ichigo," Grimmjow sighed. "Nnoitra has this thing about being tied down. It didn't mean anything. I mean, it's just something he thinks from time to time because that's how it's always been, but it doesn't mean he's actually going to do it. He really likes Shiro; more than anyone I've ever seen him with."

"We know," Ichigo replied.

"We?"

"Shiro and I. We know the deal. We're not stupid."

"Then...why did Shiro break it off?" Grimmjow asked with confusion.

"He figured that if he jumped the gun that maybe Nnoitra wouldn't like it without him. That maybe it would make Nnoitra realize that he really does like Shiro. I mean, from Shiro's perspective, Nnoitra never even liked saying that they were dating or had anything special," Ichigo explained.

"It's stupid to play around with relationships this way," Grimmjow said.

"Shiro thought it was probably the only chance. He figured otherwise Nnoitra would leave, or cheat, or just assume that things had gotten too normal and that he needed to move on."

"Nnoitra is going to kill you if he finds out that you started this," Grimmjow told his boyfriend.

"Well then, you better keep your mouth closed."

"He's all...sad and shit," Grimmjow pointed out. "I don't know how to handle a messed up Nnoitra. I'm surprised he didn't just hit a bar and chase after a couple of skanks."

"Uh, well Shiro told me to try and minimize any skank chasing," Ichigo said.

"Then Shiro shouldn't have fucking broken up with Nnoitra then!"

"Why are you so mad?" Ichigo asked.

"You wouldn't pull this shit on me, would you?" Grimmjow questioned.

Ichigo blinked. "You worried because you think I'll break up with you?"

"That you'll play around with me," Grimmjow said.

"So do you think Nnoitra is out for awhile?"

"Why are you changing the subject?" Grimmjow groused.

"Because I don't want to be interrupted again," Ichigo said, finally giving in and tugging on the towel wrapped around Grimmjow's waist.

* * *

Of course this has to happen fucking NOW, Shiro thought to himself, peeping through his blinds towards the street. He picked up his cell phone, but then put it down. He went back to his bedroom and riffled through a drawer before finding a piece of crap plastic flip phone he had bought from some cart at the mall. Shiro entered in his prepaid phone card, activating the phone, and dialed.

"Finally got someone, but it's kinda a bad time," Shiro said into the phone. "Ya, I know. Just...let Nnoi know when it goes down, yeah?"

Shiro looked through his closet, deciding that lounging around in his pajamas for yet another day wasn't the way to go. He got dressed and paused over a particular item. Oh, what the hell, Shiro thought, strapping on the knife and sheath to his leg. I ain't gonna be easy. Besides, might as well get out somma that aggression I'm feelin'.

He walked out the door and down the street, heading in a random direction. He pretended to not hear the feet padding behind him, then ducked into an alley way.

"Looking fer me?" Shiro asked when his pursuer turned down the narrow passage way.

The man began to reach for something, but Shiro didn't let him get at it, punching him in the gut and then slamming his elbow into the side of the man's face. Blood poured for the man's ear as he straightened up. Shiro laughed and then kicked the man in the knee cap, hearing a crunch.

He heard several running footsteps closing in on his position. He took out his knife and prepared himself.

In the end, he got four of them down (well, five, counting the first guy), but got taken out with a blackjack to the back of the head.

* * *

"I will hunt down yer family and kill ya all," Nnoitra slurred into the phone.

"Oops, sorry, I don't have a family," Gin said.

"What time is it?" Nnoitra asked, looking around for some sort of clue.

"Evening," Gin clued him in.

"What day?"

"Oh my, have you been having too much fun? It's Monday evening," Gin replied.

"Only?" Nnoitra groaned.

"What the hell do you mean only?" Grimmjow yelled from the kitchen. "You've been here two days! Go home and change at least!"

"Shuddap!" Nnoitra yelled back. "'sides, it's business."

Grimmjow came into the living room.

"What do ya want, _boss_?" Nnoitra spit out the last word as an insult.

"Well now, don't get too mad at me but...well you see your little boyfriend volunteered to do a little work for me."

Nnoitra was wide awake now. "He ain't my boyfriend. Wasn't before and sure as hell ain't now."

"Well, regardless, there's some people that have been tracking him down as a way to get to you," Gin said. "He was aware of it, and in a kind of random coincidence he and I talked and I recruited him to..."

Nnoitra listened silently...but only long enough for Gin to finish what he was saying. "You...put him in danger...saying it was gonna help me? You...ya fucking dragged him into this shit! Ya let him get nabbed ON PURPOSE?" he was screaming.

"I'm fairly confident we can track him down quickly, but you have to be calm enough to listen to me," Gin said over the phone.

"Fine."

* * *

"What's happening?" Ichigo asked as Grimmjow hurriedly put his shoes on.

"Nothing," Nnoitra said.

"Grimmjow tends to not sling a gun across his back for 'nothing'," Ichigo pointed out.

"Shiro is working with Gin to track some drug dealers that have been tracking Nnoitra around. He got taken not too long ago from not far in front of his house," Grimmjow said.

Ichigo's mouth dropped.

"Well, guess ya didn't know about this now, did ya?" Nnoitra stated. "Because if ya fucking let Shiro get taken AND DIDN'T TELL ME, I'm laying ya out cold no matter what Grimmjow says."

"I...had no idea," Ichigo said honestly.

"I don't understand why he would break up with me at the same time as he's puttin' himself in danger fer me," Nnoitra wondered.

"Maybe he knew and wanted you out of the way for a couple of days," Grimmjow said.

Damn Grimmjow is a good liar, Ichigo thought to himself.

"Are you guys leaving me out?" Ichigo said with a frown, realizing that they had planned on leaving without even telling him.

"Fine. Come with if ya want. Be ready in five minutes or we're already be gone," Nnoitra said. "Bring a gun."

"I...don't have any guns," Ichigo admitted.

"What the hell kind of agent are ya anyways?"

"The non-violent kind," Ichigo stated.

"Non-violent my ass," Grimmjow said with a laugh.

"Fine, the non-gun kind," Ichigo said over his shoulder as he went down the hall. "Plus it's not like I brought stuff with me."

"Oh yeah, it's much better to leave all of your gear in the meth apartment."

"_Near_ the meth apartment. It was like...a whole two floors away," Ichigo said from the bedroom.

"Close enough ta boom," Nnoitra making an exploding motion with his hands.

"You aren't going back!" Grimmjow yelled down the hall to Ichigo.

Ichigo came back, now wearing some form fitting jeans and t-shirt. Seeing Nnoitra's glance Ichigo pulled out a small plastic tool.

"What tha fuck is dat?" Nnoitra asked.

"A Predator...well I think they call them Defenders now," Ichigo said, putting it back in his pocket. "Believe me, it's effective."

"Yeah, way more effective than a bullet," Nnoitra complained.

"Shut up and let's go," Ichigo said as he walked out the door.


	16. Shiro's Rescue

**Shiro's Rescue**

**(part 2 of the mini story between Arc 1 and arc 2)**

* * *

"How about you tell us about the boyfriend of yours?" the hulking man asked.

"Well, since that's a question, no," Shiro said with a wide smile. The man backhanded him across the mouth, splitting his lower lip and causing blood to dribbled down his chin.

"What gang is he working for?" the man asked.

Gang? Shiro wondered to himself. Well, I guess that means that they know less than Gin feared at least. After finding that they had raided that counter-intelligence warehouse he had been scared that the low level thugs had found out something. Guess they're too stupid to know what they found, Shiro thought to himself with a smirk. It also means that I probably didn't need to do this. I shoulda just had Nnoitra come and shoot their damn heads off.

Assuming that Nnoitra will even ever talk to me again, Shiro thought uneasily.

"Are you even listening to me?" the man asked.

"Er, not really," Shiro admitted.

The man gestured to his partner who took out a gun. Shiro's eyes widened slightly but he didn't say anything. The smaller man turned the gun around and hit Shiro with it.

Oh well, Shiro thought, that's not that bad. Ichigo can beat me up more than this, and it ain't like Gin doesn't know where I am at this point...hopefully...

* * *

"So what the hell is that plastic thing?" Nnoitra asked as they drove, closely monitoring Shiro's homing signal on a small device. "Left here," he told Grimmjow, who turned at the next street.

"Ever hear of the First Earth Battalion?" Ichigo asked.

"Actually, yeah," Nnoitra replied.

Ichigo was surprised.

"What?" Nnoitra said. "It looked cool, all this warrior monk and samurai crap. Plus I dug the whole idea of Jedi Warriors. Turns out it's a buncha hugging. What bullshit."

"It is not about hugging," Ichigo rolled his eyes.

"It involves hugging," Nnoitra pointed out.

"Well...yeah. Anyways, this was inspired from that group. It's a non-lethal weapon that focuses on chakra points," Ichigo stated.

"Chakra pointed are also bullshit," Nnoitra said.

"Fine, call them pressure points, whatever."

"What's the difference between your little thingie and a sharp stick?" Grimmjow asked.

"My device is created to easily fit in my hand and has different edges to do different things," Ichigo explained.

"So what, yer just gonna make them a little sore?" Nnoitra questioned.

"Of course not. Non-lethal doesn't mean that it's non-destructive. The United States 82th airborne uses this in Iraq, so it's not just weird new age mumbo jumbo," Ichigo said.

"Ya know, out of all the non-gun people I know, ya've shot the most people. So why not just give in and carry regular-like?" Nnoitra asked.

"Don't want to."

"Leave him alone, Nnoi," Grimmjow chided his friend.

"Should be coming up soon," Nnoitra said. "Gin said he wasn't sure if it was just thugs or actually people that we need to worry about, so be careful goin' in."

* * *

"Asshole," Shiro said. "I like that tattoo." The big man has started tracing his knife over the inked design, leaving bloody lines that Shiro really hoped wouldn't scar too badly.

"Someone's coming," a goon from the hall said.

"Hm, maybe it's the big bad boyfriend of yours," the big man said.

"Ya really better hope it's not, 'cuz he gets really angry," Shiro grinned.

Outside there was gunfire. The two men in the room stiffened and then positioned themselves at either end of the door, looking down the long hallway.

* * *

"What the hell!" Nnoitra yelled at Ichigo. "Ya fucking jabbed that guy's eyes out!"

"What? He's not dead," Ichigo shrugged. A man charged at him with a knife and he hooked his hand with part of his weapon, twisting his arm in a painful position before sharply hitting the back of his shoulder with the palm of his hand. The man's arm went limp as his shoulder was dislocated.

He still had a little fight in him though and turned to attack Ichigo again. Ichigo sighed and used the rivet on the back of the defender to catch and rip off part of the man's ear.

"Yeah, I'm thinking guns are more civilized," Nnoitra said, shooting the man laying in front of him in the leg again. He wanted some of them alive for questioning at least. Or to torture later for taking his Shiro. Either way.

The three men burst into the building, kicking in the door to each room and clearing it before moving on. They eventually came to an open door and found Shiro standing with one man holding a gun to his head, another standing on the other side of him, his hand on Shiro's shoulder.

"Don't move or I'll shoot," the big man said. "Hell, I might shoot anyways," he said with an unpleasant grin.

"Put your guns down," the smaller man ordered.

Well, I guess that's an advantage of that stupid piece of crap Ichigo is carryin', Nnoitra thought. They don't view it as a threat. He carefully edged away from Ichigo to give him room to move if he needed t as both he and Grimmjow placed their weapons on the floor slowly.

"Hands up," the large man said.

Ichigo paused. The small man trained his weapon on him, and Ichigo gently raised his hands, the defender still in it.

"Drop whatever the hell that is," the small man said.

Ichigo did as he was told, silently cursing.

Shiro was aware that the two men were watching the device fall to the ground, all of their attention on the front of the room. He could clearly feel the cold barrel of the gun pressed against his temple, but he trusted his reflexes. With a small breath his quickly moved backward, forcing his shoulder out of the small man's arm and using his hand to grab the gun in the larger man's hand. Not even trying to fight for the weapon, he simply pointed it at the small man and pressed the larger man's finger, firing the weapon into the man's head. He felt the larger man's hand go slack as he watched his partner's head splatter on the wall behind him and forced the weapon fully from his hand, kicking the man in the knee hard. He leveled the weapon at the man who was now on the ground. The man looked up at him, completely unarmed, but what the hell, Shiro was still a little mad. He decided to shoot off the man's left foot.

"Holy shit, Shiro," Ichigo said breathlessly.

Nnoitra didn't say anything just grabbed Shiro into a fierce embrace once Shiro had lowered the weapon. "Ya ok?" he asked.

"Banged up, bleeding, but nothing too major I don't think," Shiro said, his arms around Nnoitra's back.

"Call it in to Gin, I'm taking Shiro to a hospital," Nnoitra told Grimmjow.

"Wait a minute," Grimmjow said. "How the hell does Shiro know how to shoot so well?"

"Well the truth is..." Ichigo began.

"Well...it's my dad, ye see," Shiro said. "Kinda a crazy coot."

* * *

Shiro was in a hospital bed, getting fluids to make up for his lost blood and getting various stitches and bandages. They had gotten a private room and were waiting for Gin. For some reason he wanted to meet with them in person.

Nnoitra was holding onto Shiro's hand that didn't have an IV drip in it.

Neither of them had spoken about the break up yet.

"I love ya," Nnotira said suddenly.

Grimmjow and Ichigo bolted upright in their seats.

"Um..." Ichigo mumbled something incoherent and dragged Grimmjow out of the room to give the couple some privacy.

"I'm sorry," Shiro said. "I didn't know if ya even really cared or not, ya know? Didn't want ta get in too deep and then be left alone."

The two didn't say anything for awhile.

* * *

"Who would have thought that Nnoitra and Shiro would get there before us?" Ichigo said with a wan grin.

"What?" Grimmjow looked at Ichigo.

Ichigo's phone rang. He looked at it with concern. "Be right back," he said, leaving the hall.

Damn it, Nnoi, showing me up, Grimmjow groaned. But...I do, right? I mean, I do...love...Ichigo. So I should probably say it right? Before he does something stupid like Shiro and runs off or whatever. Grimmjow sighed and ran his fingers through his hair nervously. Fuck you, Nnoitra, he thought with a scowl.

Nnoitra was actually laughing at the moment, because a nurse had wandered in and his hand was definitely in a compromising position under Shiro's covers. The nurse had made an embarrassed squeak and hurried out of the room.

"Asshole, she was probably gonna give me more drugs," Shiro complained.

"Don't worry, I'll make ya feel good," Nnoitra promised.

* * *

Ichigo was gone for almost twenty minutes. Grimmjow was beginning to wonder if he should be worried.

"Sorry about that," Ichigo said, his face serious.

I should say this now, before I lose the courage.

"I was thinking you should move in with me," Grimmjow said.

"What?" Ichigo asked.

"I...like you being around all the time and...you know..."

Ichigo was just looking at him.

"Er...I love you and all so...it makes sense..." Grimmjow wondered exactly how big of an idiot he sounded right then.

"I'm sorry, but no," Ichigo replied.

Grimmjow's heart stopped for a moment. "What? Wait a minute! Why not? You do...I mean...care about me, right?"

Ichigo smiled. "Sorry, maybe I shouldn't have been so blunt without explaining. I do care about you Grimmjow."

"Do you love me?" Grimmjow asked, his arms now encircling Ichigo, holding him close so that he could look into Ichigo's eyes.

Ichigo paused. "Yes...I love you," he said quietly.

Grimmjow grinned. "Well then, what's the problem? I don't do the dishes enough or something?"

"That was Yoruichi. We've found Hallibel. I'm going after her."

"Why can't you be with me while doing that?"

"We still don't have enough information on her to bring her in. I'll be going undercover. It will be too obvious if I live with you. Besides, she's operating in a different part of Japan so I'll be moving," Ichigo explained.

"How far away?" Grimmjow asked, wondering when he'd become such a pussy that the thought of Ichigo moving away even for a couple of months hit him like a fist into his stomach.

"Why hello!" came a cheerful voice.

"Busy," Grimmjow told his boss.

"Oh, are you finally telling him about your promotion?" Gin asked.

"Promotion?" Ichigo queried.

"Uh...yeah...Starrk is just too damn lazy and Nnoitra is unreliable. Ulquiorra is missing and also was on Aizen's payroll so...I'm the new vice-director," Grimmjow explained.

"As of how long ago?" Ichigo asked, slightly peeved.

"Er...not too long after you came back, actually," Grimmjow answered, wincing at the look that Ichigo gave him. "Guess I should've told you sooner.

"You guys can argue and then kiss and make up later, we need to confab," Gin said, gesturing for them to follow him as he walked towards Shiro's room.

"You might want to knock first," Grimmjow warned.

Gin peeked in, but then motioned for them to follow him. Two fairly innocent faces looked up at them. They were in the same tiny bed of course, but they seemed to be clothed.

"Good job," Gin said to Shiro. "Too bad they weren't actual players. However, we did find a large stash of drugs, so that's always nice."

"Why the holy fuckin' hell are you sending my boyfriend to mess with drug dealers anyways, you asshole!" Nnoitra said, his voice getting loud and his eyes violent.

"Well, he kind of volunteered, you see," Gin said. "So congratulations, Shiro. We have a lot of open numbers, so what's your favorite?"

"Let's go with...three..." Shiro said, his eyes glinting.

"Shiro!" Ichigo was aghast.

"You...you can't fucking make him an espada!" Nnoitra was full on yelling now.

"Besides, what the hell kind of training does he have? I know we have a lot of blank spots right now, but you can't just place a rookie in there," Grimmjow said, backing Nnoitra up.

"You might be surprised," Gin stated with a wide grin.

"Ichigo," Shiro said, looking over to his cousin. "Ya understand?"

Ichigo sighed and looked out the window. "Yeah."

* * *

_Years ago – just after Masaki's death_

Ichigo wasn't all that surprised to find someone already at the grave. His pale cousin sat in front of it, his hand on the cold stone, bawling his eyes out. Ichigo didn't say anything, just sat next to him.

"I...I'm sorry," Shiro said, gasping for air. "I'll leave you alone."

"It's ok," Ichigo told his cousin. "I know that you viewed her as your mother too."

Shiro had never known his own mom, who had died giving birth to him. His father had brought his son to his sister, knowing that her maternal instincts and good nature would be good for Shiro. In Shiro's mind Masaki _was_ his mother, since he had no memory of anyone else. She had never been scared of the way he looked, and never gotten mad at him when he got into fights or got bad grades. She knew how to make his favorite cookies perfectly, and would watch TV with him while dinner was being cooked. As much as he respected his father, he always cherished their visits to the Kurosaki house. He played with the tiny Karin and Yuzu and rough housed with his cousin Ichigo.

"I'm gonna kill whoever did this to her," Shiro swore.

"My dad says that killing isn't justice. He said that bringing someone to the law is justice," Ichigo said.

"I don't really know what justice is, I just know what revenge is. I will kill her," Shiro replied. "Tell me what she looked like again."

"Darker skin, golden blonde hair, green eyes. She's tall for a woman...at least taller than mom," Ichigo described.

The boys sat at the grave until twilight, and then began to walk home.

"I'm going ta ask for a knife from dad for my birthday," Shiro told his cousin. "He said he'll train me if I wanna."

"Me too?" Ichigo asked.

Shiro nodded his head enthusiastically.

* * *

"Your dad was a navy seal?" Nnoitra said, his visible eyebrow raised.

"My mom and Shiro's dad were both Americans. Shiro's dad is living in the United States again," Ichigo explained.

"Ichigo, I always thought that your dad was the one that trained you, since he was a high level intelligence officer," Grimmjow said. "Or Director Yamamoto."

"They all trained us," Ichigo said. "But mostly it was Zangetsu."

"He would tie us up and throw us into the deep end of the pool, make us disassemble guns with blindfolds on, and train us until we collapsed," Shiro stated. "Then Ichigo's dad would patch us up and we'd do it all again."

"Shiro, I heard from Yoruichi. I'll be leaving to go after Hallibel soon," Ichigo told his cousin.

"Oh yay! I'm looking forward to this!" Gin said. He noticed the look Ichigo was giving him. "Didn't she tell you that this would be a joint operation?"

"No, she forgot to mention that," Ichigo said dryly.

"Well then," Grimmjow grinned, "as vice-director I'm going to go ahead and choose the team, headed by myself."

"I wanna go," Shiro said, looking at his new bosses.

Nnoitra was frowning. "What the hell? Ya just got yer ass handed to ya by wanna be gangsters. Yer not ready for a real rough crowd."

"Let him go," Ichigo asked Grimmjow.

"If Shiro is going, so am I," Nnoitra said.

"So, a team of four?" Gin said as he thought about it. "I think I have an idea of how to do this."

* * *

_A/N #1: Hallibel arc up next!_

_A/N #2: Look up "Predator Defender" if you want to see the weapon that Ichigo used. You can buy it yourself and use it. It's not recognized as a weapon so you can take it to places that don't usually let you carry things like that, and you don't have to be strong to use it either._


	17. Disguises

**Disguises**

**Beginning Hallibel Arc**

_A/N: Yeah, I have no real excuse. I keep partying too hard on the weekends and then getting sick during the week. My brother just moved to the beach and it's summer now, so it's hard to stay away from delicious BBQ on the sand. Also, E3 was this week, which is only three days but feels like 10 because of how much you're on your feet._

_Btw, I mention an eye surgery in this chapter this is totally possible, but highly dis-recommended (yes, I made up a word). Seriously, don't do it, chances are you'll go blind eventually. Not our guys though, they're supermen. Also, kind of funny on the timing of this with the manga, eh? Ginju gives eye surgery too =)_

* * *

"It's too weird seeing you two together," Ichigo complained, making a motion towards Yoruichi and Gin, who were sitting next to each other at the end of the table.

"Your so cute when you pout," Gin replied, leaning on his hand with a smile.

Grimmjow growled slightly. "Great, so the "I'm going to annoyingly hit on Ichigo all the time" thing wasn't just a ploy?" he asked.

"Why would you think that?" Gin questioned.

Nnoitra hadn't gotten used to Shiro being in his workplace. To be honest, he usually didn't actually go into the office for a lot of things, he didn't need too, but he had been hanging around a lot more than usual since Shiro had been going through Espada training.

Right now he was playing with Shiro's hair and wondering if Gin had put cameras in _all _the closets or just the one that he had picked last time.

"Concentrate," Yoruichi chided him.

Nnoitra eyes narrowed. "Like I need to listen to orders from some Interpol bitch with..."

"Quiet everyone," Gin spoke up, "our disguise expert is coming in."

The four man team and Yoruichi and Gin all turned towards the door.

"Ya gotta be kidding me. Tesla?" Nnoitra groaned. "He ain't an expert in anything."

Tesla? Shiro frowned, his eyes trailing the blonde man.

"Come now, you know that a lot of people have moved around since our little spring cleaning," Gin said.

"Where are we going?" Nnoitra said. "Why do we even need disguises?"

"If you had listened the first time, this 'Interpol bitch' wouldn't have to repeat herself," Yoruichi pointed out. She smirked at Nnoitra's irritated look before continuing. "Hallibel runs an information clearing house posing as an exotic dancing and hostess club. She attracts a high class of clientele, runs meetings out of its offices, and has her girls (and guys) collect information from their sugar daddies. At least, that's what we think. We have proof that several of her known associates are there with her, and she has signed several of the lease checks that rent the building, although her name is not on the lease agreement."

"You didn't say where again," Nnoitra complained.

"Yokohama," Yoruichi said.

"So, at least it's not across the world or anything," Ichigo stated.

"You'll still have to drop out of your classes," Grimmjow reminded him.

"Gesh, I'll do it when I have to."

"Do you love school that much that you have to get in the last couple of days?" Grimmjow asked.

"A last couple of days before my life officially becomes unnormal? Yeah, I'd like that," Ichigo replied.

"You consider yer life normal?" Nnoitra wondered. "So why is the squirt here?" Nnoitra continued, pointing towards Tesla.

Shiro smirked at that, not that he hadn't already noticed that Tesla had probably an inch on him. 'Dick', Shiro thought to himself darkly.

"Well, since you're going to be dancing, it's going to be harder to conceal your identity," Yoruichi said to Ichigo.

"Since he's _what_!" Grimmjow almost jumped out of his chair.

"Looks like I'm not that only one that wasn't listenin'," Nnoitra laughed. "We're gonna be drug dealers, working out of the warehouse we confiscated and using those gangs whose leaders we already killed when we grabbed Shiro. Ichigo and Shiro, well one at first and hopefully both of 'em, will work in da club as dancers and hostesses...er...hosts?"

"They have male dancers too?" Grimmjow asked.

Gin nodded. "Yup."

"So...I mean, hostessing...he's not going to have to do anything to people, right?" Grimmjow asked.

"No, it's not a whorehouse," Yoruichi rolled her eyes. "He'll just stuff people full of expensive alcohol, look pretty, and try to get them to give their hands to themselves. I sent someone in to check it out and nothing too bad was going on. My sources say that the girls employed can do little as they want, some don't give lap dances for example. It's the exclusivity of the club that makes the richer men come."

"You're really going to do this?" Grimmjow asked Ichigo.

Ichigo shrugged, trying to not looked as stressed as he felt about the whole thing. "I've been practicing with Shiro."

"...with...er..." Grimmjow really couldn't help his mind sometimes. Nnoitra was grinning widely and Grimmjow hit him in the side. "Shut up!" he said.

"Did say anythin'," Nnoitra smiled. "By the way, I've seen them practicing on the pole. Ichigo is pretty good."

"You asshole!" Grimmjow got slightly flushed.

"You're going to have to get used to people looking at him, Grimmjow," Yoruichi said.

"No, I don't."

"Anyways, my point was that there's not too much to do in the way of disguise for Ichigo Kurosaki since he will be mostly naked a lot of the time," Tesla continued.

Grimmjow groaned and put his hands in his head.

"Being a natural red head is a plus but I think we can clearly say that Hallibel has seen photos of you so we'll need to alter your looks somewhat," Tesla said. "Also, Director Ichimaru checked the records and Hallibel has only known your mom under her maiden name, so even though we will change your name, you don't need to worry about her finding your true motives even if she somehow tracks down your true identity. You'd have a lot of explaining to do, but hopefully you'd have enough time to get out and to some place safe."

"Why is my hair a plus?"

"Well, in the dancing word, interesting and exotic are always good, and it's obvious by your happy trail what your natural color..."

"WHAT!" Grimmjow actually did jump out of his seat this time. "How the hell do you know what Ichigo's happy trail looks like!"

"I er...had to sent him pictures of me in my briefs..." Ichigo stated, blushing.

"I'm glad that you took Director Ichimaru's advice during your little...vacation...to let your hair grow long. You're already in peak physical condition so that's fine, we just need to dye your hair and change your eyes."

"Dye my hair?" Ichigo paled.

"Wrong thing to get worried about, 'cuz," Shiro jumped in. "What the hell do you mean about changing his eyes?"

"Well, it would be hard to change your eyes," Tesla's voice got slightly harder. "Considering how bizarre they are. We'll be lucky to get you in. It'll only happen if they have someone with a weird fetish on the hiring staff," he said coldly.

"Fetish?" Nnoitra looked at his lover with a slightly cocked head. "Do I have a fetish?"

"Several," Shiro laughed, snuggling under Nnoitra's arm and casting Tesla a dirty look.

"In Ichigo Kurosaki's case however," Tesla moved on, "we can do an intraocular implant. We will make his eyes green. They will be a rather striking color of green to draw more notice to his eyes."

"You can really do that?" Ichigo asked.

"Safely?" Grimmjow added.

"Of course, we don't want to blind him," Tesla said.

"I...like my eyes," Ichigo pointed out.

"The surgery is reversible. In fact, to have the implants for several years would probably not be healthy so we recommend removing them immediately after your mission."

"And my hair? I thought you just said that being a natural redhead was good thing, but then you said we were going to dye it," Ichigo said.

"Well, we're going to dye it darker, to match your pubic hair," Tesla said matter-of-factly.

Ichigo sputtered and started turning crimson. "C-can we just say darker? I mean..."

Grimmjow was laughing at Ichigo now. He was still pissed and the idea of Ichigo as a stripper was going to take some getting used to, but Ichigo was pretty adorable when he blushed.

"Nnoitra, you're going to have to get a fake eye," Tesla continued on.

"W-what? I can't see out of it, so what's the..." Nnoitra bitched.

"We have a robotic eye that will mimic your eye movements. At most, people will think you have a lazy eye. It's hard to cover your height, but having two eyes will throw people off. Also, I suggest bulking up a little," Tesla said.

"Ya always said that I was too skinny," Nnoitra whined.

"Yer fine," Shiro told him, glaring at Tesla.

"Grimmjow, I'm afraid you're going to have to dye your hair to something other than blue," Tesla pointed out.

"Damn it," Grimmjow complained. "But the eyebrows and eyelashes will be blue anyways."

"Dye the eyebrows and wear black mascara, it's not hard," Tesla pushed.

"I don't remember ya being this pushy," Nnoitra said.

"I've given him free reign to do whatever he wants to you four, so shut up and just be happy no one is going home with a pink mohawk," Gin told the team.

"And you..." Tesla looked over at Shiro. Shiro was feeling a sense of dread and felt that Gin shouldn't have thrown the pink mohawk idea out there before he had been given what his look was. "There's not too much we can do. We can't tan you, you're already full of ink and piercings. Luckily, no one knows who you are and you're fairly recognizable. Like I said, exotic is good in a lot of these types of places, and people play characters, I imagine you can force your way in the door if you're pushy enough or hit at the right moment."

Shiro sighed in relief. He was actually very proud of his look. When he was a kid he'd been relentlessly teased about it, but now it made him distinctive. He curled his lip and spat in the general direction when people walked by him with uppity sneers now. He knew he looked like a delinquent and scared people on more than one occasion playing that role.

'Of course, now I get to carry a gun. I wonder how many freebies I get ta kill before people start getting mad?' Shiro wondered to himself. 'I'll hafta ask Nnoi, I'm sure he knows.'

"So, Ichigo Kurosaki is off for surgery and if the rest of you will follow..." Tesla began.

"Woah, like right now? Don't I get to...read papers or something about it?" Ichigo said weakly.

"I already told you it can be dangerous, but I can lay out the details. First they will put some drops of steroids into your eye and then put in an eye spreader, so that you can't blink. They'll take razor blade and slice off the top part of the clear part of your eye and flip it back and..." Tesla stopped because multiple people were waving their hands at him. "What?"

"Too much..." Shiro looked even paler than usual.

"What the hell, Tesla?" Nnoitra said.

"Something wrong?" Tesla asked, honestly confused.

"No more details," Ichigo said. "Just...do it and don't tell me about it. Also, Grimmjow?"

"Yeah?"

"We're going out drinking tonight."

"Ha ha!" Grimmjow laughed.

"Actually, you won't see each other after today," Yoruichi said.

That silenced Grimmjow quickly. "What?"

"Ichigo and Shiro will live together, and you and Nnoitra will live together, but you can't all be seen together. We are expecting you to all eventually meet up at the club, you can pretend that you're interested in them as dancers and get to a position where they can be alone with you without suspicion; we'll pass along information that way. Otherwise, your two groups will be living in a blackout excepting big emergencies. Got it?" Yoruichi said.

"For how long?" Nnoitra grimaced.

"Well, they'll have to be situated before you, and then you have to allow time for your supposed relationship to grow, so it might be a few months," Gin pointed out.

"Fuck," Nnoitra groaned.

Grimmjow would normally tease Nnoitra about something like this, but considering he was in the same boat, he just cursed to himself. "Couldn't you have at least warned us that we weren't going to get any more time together?" he asked his boss.

"Going soft?" Gin queried, a smile on his face.

"Suck it, asshole," Nnoitra replied.

"Oh no, none of that either," Gin joked.

* * *

"Do they hurt?" Grimmjow asked, raising his hands to Ichigo's face and delicately touching around the area.

"No. The surgery didn't hurt either, thankfully," Ichigo said. "I just had to get over the gag reflex of when I thought about what was happening. I have to use a lot of eye drops on them too, I guess to keep them wet to heal over."

Grimmjow shuddered slightly at the image of Ichigo with bloody eyes. "You look weird," he admitted.

"Do you not feel like you're looking at me anymore?"

"Not really," Grimmjow said. "It's like I'm looking at a fake you."

"Well then, I guess Tesla did his job. I miss the way you usually look too, although now your eyes stand out a lot more," Ichigo replied. He paused. "I'm not too sore for...a little fun before we don't see each other for awhile."

"Is that really wise right now?" Grimmjow asked, running his fingers through Ichigo's dark red hair, missing Ichigo's original orange sunburst color.

"I don't care," Ichigo said, pulling Grimmjow into a kiss.

Grimmjow would like to have thought that he put up a good fight, but in reality he only last about thirty seconds before he pushed Ichigo back onto his desk.

* * *

"So fuckin' weird," Shiro said, looking over Nnoitra.

"People normally think that about the eye patch," Nnoitra said. "Don't ya like that I look more normal now?"

"Me? Ha. Like I'm ever gonna be normal. I like the real you," Shiro said, running his hand over the place that Nnoitra's eye patch usually rested.

"So uh, the color matches and everyhin'?" Nnoitra asked.

"Yup," Shiro replied after looking at the set of eye critically. "Of course it does, bastard probably could pick out yer eye color in his sleep."

"I kinda like ya all jealous," Nnoitra said, leaning against the wall and pulling Shiro's in between his legs.

"Not jealous, just possessive," Shiro corrected.

"I'm gonna have to not be possessive seeing all those men stare at yer body," Nnoitra said. "Gonna take a lot of control to not knock some heads."

"I'll miss ya too," Shiro said with his head buried in Nnoitra's chest so that his voice was slightly muffled.

"Now do that crazy thing where ya hang off of me like a damn tree frog," Nnoitra ordered, hoisting Shiro up onto his hips.

"Just going to go right at it in the hallway?" came a voice floating towards them.

"Piss off, ya wish ya were this flexible," Shiro yelled at Gin.

"Oh fine, have fun, and then enjoy your months of celibacy," Gin waved to the two them.

"Fucker," Nnoitra groaned.

* * *

_A/N: Question: Give the guys fake names (because they should have them for going undercover) or leave their names as they are because it will be too confusing to have fake and real names as well as disguises? Let me know!_


	18. Plush

**Plush**

* * *

Ichigo was nervous. He couldn't read the two women watching him, and in truth he wasn't sure that he wanted to. Their faces were partially hidden in the shadows and all Ichigo thought was, 'at least if I'm hired this means that I won't have to see everyone ogling me.'

The place was called 'Plush', and Ichigo had wanted to get in to see how things worked but it seemed that the place had a guest list and only members were allowed in, so he was doing his audition cold turkey. He closed his eyes and tried to imagine that he was back at Shiro's place, practicing. He could never get the albino's snaky movements down, but he had come up with something that was a little more suited to his style. Ichigo only had two outfits so far, one a school boy's outfit and one business attire; he figured he could flesh out his wardrobe when he figured out what they wanted. Shiro had tried to convince him to wear a school _girl's _outfit instead, but Ichigo refused to wear a skirt (Shiro promised him he's change his tune later on, but Ichigo wasn't sure).

Ichigo had groaned at the inevitable "stripper name" he'd have to pick. Strawberry? Seriously? The name that he'd been fighting ever since he entered school? He had to admit though, with his darker red hair and blazing green eyes, he looked more 'strawberry' than ever. All of his fake ids, the lease agreement for his apartment, credit cards, etc. (even a fake facebook account) were set up under his temporary fake name "Ichiro Kobayashi". Everyone figured that with his stage name being Strawberry that if someone accidentally called him "Ichigo" it wouldn't be that bad since it meant strawberry and was close to his new fake name. In general though, Grimmjow would be calling him by his dancing name. If they could get Shiro in they were planning on only changing his last name since it was the same as Masaki's maiden name and might be recognized.

"Have you ever danced before?" the larger and darker of the women asked him when he was finished, the music trailing off and the lights flickering back on.

"Not…in public," Ichigo admitted.

"That's actually good," the woman said. "A lot of the men who come here have danced before but for women. Women and men want different things from their dancers. You move more like a woman than a man when you dance."

Ichigo tried to take that as a compliment.

"I like the fact that you're not completely without body hair. Just the pop of color in the armpits and some leading down to your shorts let's everyone know that you are a natural redhead," the small woman said threw the long sleeves she was covering her mouth with.

"Don't get any more bulky though," the taller woman said. "You look muscular and fit without being meaty. We already have a couple of meaty looking guys, we need more feminine ones."

Ichigo once again tried to take the idea that he was "feminine" as a compliment.

"It says here that you're pre-med?" she continued.

"I'm just taking a break from school to make some money," Ichigo stated.

"Will you quit once you go back to school?" she asked.

"Well, I guess that depends on how often I have to work. Since I would be going to school in the morning and working in the evening, it would probably be fine until I start my internship," Ichigo answered.

"We need a redhead," the smaller woman said.

"Yeah…alright, we'll give you a shot. It's the same shot as anyone has. You have two weeks to prove yourself an asset to our establishment. I'm Mila-Rose and this is Sung-sun," the amazon like woman introduced herself and her assistant manager. "I'm handing you over to a couple of pros for the rules and some advice."

"Thanks so much!" Ichigo enthused, beginning to get his clothes back on.

"Leave it off for now," Mila-Rose suggested. "They'll want to see what they're working with."

Ichigo regretfully stopped getting dressed, happy that he at least was wearing tiny tight briefs as opposed to the tiny red thong that Shiro tried to get him into. He knew he'd have to eventually do it, but he was already nervous enough without having to flash butt cheek.

* * *

Ichigo was handed over to two men, one fairly short, with a sharp bob and purple eyes sporting a couple of feathers over one of them, and the other larger was buff with a shaved head.

"I'm Yumichika, and this is Ikkaku," Yumichika greeted Ichigo. "I'm so excited to have some more guys around."

"This place used to be mostly girls and a couple of guys but now it's becoming known among the gay and bisexual high rollers of the town so we've been having more men come on the team," Ikkaku explained. "You'll run into all of them sooner or later."

"So uh, what do I need to know? I've never done anything like this before?" Ichigo said.

"Are you shy?" Ikkaku asked.

"I…"

Yumichika grabbed his ass and Ichigo shot up in the air. "Yes," Yumichika confirmed.

"That's actually good, until it wears off you'll probably have lots of people trying to make you blush and jump," Ikkaku relayed.

"Uh…good?" Ichigo was unsure about that.

"Ok, so the rules basically are; no sleeping with the clients for money, no sex acts for money, and they pay for everything. You need to let them paw at you a little, but let them know what your limits are. We have private room to the left of the stage for lap dances and private time, but remember, no sex acts…oh, or nakedness, at least wear a g-string or something," Yumichika outlined.

"What if a client is interested in me? Is it ok to date?" Ichigo asked.

"Looking for a sugar daddy?" Yumichika smiled. "That's fine too as long as you make sure that they keep coming into the club and paying for drinks and over priced dinners and flowers, etc. for you."

"Flowers?"

"Yeah, they can buy gifts from the gift store to give to you," Ikkaku explained. "It'll be sent to your locker. If you want it, keep it, otherwise you can trade it back in for cash. Not the flowers of course, but watches or jewelry."

"Unless the person wants you to wear it, then you should really keep it and flash it around a lot," Yumichika pointed out. The petite man paused. "One more thing, a lot of the people that come in here are movers and shakers. If you happen to get any information or tips off them, go to Sung-Sun and let her know, and you can get a bonus. The amount of bonus is decided by how juicy the information is."

'Bingo,' Ichigo thought to himself. "So, can I get dressed yet?" Ichigo asked out loud.

"One sec," Yumichika put out a delicate hand.

The two men inspect him.

"No tattoos," Ikkaku stated.

"Nice body," Yumichika mentioned. "Love the hair too."

"I've never danced before, so I don't have a…gimmick or whatever," Ichigo told them.

"I like the straight collar worker/student look you have going now," Yumichika considered, looking over the pile of clothes that Ichigo had brought with him.

"I'm going to be a doctor," Ichigo said.

"Oh, nice. How about a nurse's uniform?" Yumichika asked.

"Er, how about a doctor's one?" asked Ichigo.

"I say both, switch it up. You can get a rise out of the crowd when you show up in the nurse's uniform instead of the doctor's," Ikkaku suggested.

"Good idea," Yumichika agreed.

"You can get dressed now, and we'll introduce you to the rest of the crew and show you where you can keep your stuff. Stay tonight and watch everyone perform to get a good idea of how things roll," Ikkaku told Ichigo.

Ichigo nodded and followed the pair.

"Oh yeah, and don't lay a finger on Yumichika or I'll rip you in half," Ikkaku called over his shoulder. "He's mine!"

"Er…won't be a problem!" Ichigo said with a small awkward laugh. He had almost said he already had a boyfriend, but that would cause problems later on when he eventually hooked up with the "drug dealer" Grimmjow was going to be playing.

* * *

"Ya got the gig?" Shiro asked, waiting by the car.

"Yeah, but I'm suppose to hang out all night and watch how they do things," Ichigo told his cousin.

"Am I invited?"

"I'm sure you can come in if you're with me," Ichigo said.

"I wonder if I should order a lap dance?" Shiro wondered.

"Only if you want Nnoi…er…someone to smash your face in," Ichigo replied.

They both were under strict orders to not use any real names of the people that they really knew.

"Hey, I'm temporarily single; I get ta party, right?" Shiro grinned.

"I sincerely doubt it," Ichigo rolled his eyes.

Shiro put an arm around him with a laugh and they both headed towards the entrance of Ichigo's new workplace.

* * *

The team had been prepared to move in and assist Ichigo if he wasn't attracting clients, but they preferred to wait to not make it seem like a set up. Luckily, Ichigo getting attention wasn't a problem.

"I didn't know that women sometimes come too," Ichigo complained to Hanataro, another one of the male dancers.

"They come with business associates, or sometimes in groups. They don't normally come regular like the guys do," Hanataro explained.

Ichigo didn't like have to smile and give fake laughs, so he had mostly remained sullen. Somehow that had worked. The more he pouted, the more the men tried to get him drunk and get on his good side. Having the women's bachelor party or whatever it had been come in that night had been above and beyond as far as Ichigo was concerned. He wasn't uncomfortable around women, but he was uncomfortable around women who grabbed his ass and called him sweetie. He supposed it was sexist of him, it's not like he liked it when men did it either, it was just easier to deal with because he could slap their hands away and scowl at them. The women just thought the whole thing was a scream.

Dancing wasn't actually that hard, once Ichigo worked out a couple of routine rotations he was more or less fine. Because of the dim lights he could ignore everyone, and during the sets the music was loud enough that he couldn't hear any jeers (assuming that there were any). The dancing sets came only at certain times, the rest of the time the performers wandered around being friendly to patrons, having dinner and drinks with them, listening to their work problems, and cuddling with them depending on the relationship they had.

Ichigo had refused all lap dances so far. He wasn't ready for it, and he imagined that Grimmjow would gut anyone that he grinded against.

He knew that Plush was still looking for more male dancers, but he was waiting until he was off probation to recommend Shiro. As far as he could tell, no one looked remotely like Shiro on staff, so hopefully they'd want to get someone different.

It was Sunday night and Ichigo was washing his face to cool off in the bathroom.

"Congratulations," Ikkaku said as he walked in. "You're in."

"Really?" Ichigo smiled.

"Yeah, you already got a lot of guys on the line; don't mess it up, newbie," Ikkaku told him.

"I won't," Ichigo promised.

* * *

Ichigo had been working a month before he tentatively floated the idea of his cousin joining the team. "He's the one who taught me to dance," Ichigo mentioned.

"Does he look like you?" Sung-Sun against.

"You can definitely see the family resemblance but he's an albino. He has black sclera, golden eyes, and white hair; all natural," Ichigo described Shiro. "Also, he has a lot of tattoos and piercings."

"Interesting," Mila-Rose mused. "I'll take a look at him."

Shiro's dancing was erotic, lewd, and kinky. Unlike Ichigo's very flexible but kind of "you can't have me" vibe, Shiro's dancing was more along the lines of "you couldn't handle me, but if you could, I'd do things that have never been done to you before". Sung-Sun and Mila-Rose loved him.

"Good thing I'm all stocked up on vinyl, PVC, and leather already," Shiro said with a grin as he joined Ichigo in the changing room for the first time.

"Isn't that hard to get off quickly though?" Ichigo wondered.

"Naw, this stuff is all tied and snapped on," Shiro pointed out.

That night, Ichigo got a tidbit of information from a businessman who didn't know when to stop drinking. He passed it on to his manager and made an extra $500 that night.

* * *

"Do I look good?" Nnoitra asked.

"You look sleazy," Grimmjow replied.

"Yeah, 'cuz drug dealers are such upstanding citizens," Nnoitra paused. "Ya think they'll let us take our guns?"

"They don't check," Grimmjow told him.

"Here we go then."

"Don't mess up and call me by my real name."

"Yer the stupid one, asshole," Nnoitra said.

"Whatever," Grimmjow grunted, getting out of their all black BMV with heavily tinted windows. "Remembers, we're high class drug dealers."

"I'm all about class," Nnoitra answered with a grin.

"You're wearing silver tipped snakeskin boots."

"Snakeskin boots are awesome," Nnoitra explained, adjusting his very expensive but a little too shiny suit.

* * *

They had actually gotten a referral so their names were on the guest list. They got in with no problem.

"You came just in time," their waitress gushed. "We have a dancing set start in just fifteen minutes."

"Male or female?" Grimmjow asked.

"All male tonight. You have to come on a different day if you want to see the ladies."

"Naw, male is definitely what we're here for," Grimmjow replied.

"Can I start you off with some drinks?" she asked.

* * *

Shiro was on first, and Nnoitra watched with a big grin on his face. Until he noticed everyone else watching that is. He tried to keep his scowl to himself and enjoy the show.

"_War and anger shall reign  
The clash of iron can be heard  
by blindness you're driven insane  
I'm lost in anguish and grief  
Sorrow won't wane 'til you die  
A shattered body deeply hurt  
and darkness will cover the light  
It's gone forevermore"_

"Really? Metal? Blind Guardian?" Grimmjow laughed.

"Shut up, ya know I love this stuff," Nnoitra said, hitting him in the shoulder. "Besides, look at him."

They had been given the rules by the waitress. People did pay tips to the dancers, but no one threw money on stage. It wasn't that kind of place. Men who were happy with the performances sent money and checks in envelopes with their name and table number on it, so that the dancers could thank them in person after their sets. Nnoitra tucked an outrageous amount of money into an envelope and sent it to Shiro after his dance. What did he care, it wasn't his money. Besides, Shiro had to give back most of it anyways.

Ichigo was up immediately afterward.

Grimmjow hadn't actually seen Ichigo dance before, and he was definitely into the surgeon look that Ichigo was wearing. Practically his whole body and face were covered, and the crowd started cheering as he revealed his face and hair.

"_All this pressures building up  
And there's a chance its gonna explode  
And I can't promise how, when, or where,  
But I can tell you it'll happen for sure  
It's a crazy world, Its spinning fast  
Round and round and round we go._  
_Just keep your eyes on me now love  
Never stray, never let go, NO!"_

"It's Kenna, he's kind of alternative/electronic," Grimmjow told Nnoitra, who was looking at him questioningly.

"And yer making fun of Shiro for his metal?" Nnoitra scoffed.

Grimmjow loved the way that Ichigo moved. He had been uncomfortable aware of Ichigo's cousin flaunting his body and all but fucking the floor and making out with the pole, but now he felt he was on fire as Ichigo strutted around on stage barely clad.

"He's nice and flexible, right?" Nnoitra grinned.

"I already knew that," Grimmjow smiled. 'Although I haven't gotten to enjoy it for over a month, fucking stupid job', Grimmjow thought to himself.

His unwanted celibacy might have had some play in how much he was drooling over Ichigo's straining muscles as he finally stripped down to a tiny thong. Ichigo was glistening with sweat and Grimmjow was seriously tempted to pull him off the stage and lick him.

He also sent a large amount of money to Ichigo via envelope, as well as some flowers for good measure.

It was about fifteen minutes later when the two came out, fully dressed again, this time in slightly less sexy outfits, but still in their characters.

"Hey," Ichigo greeted to the two men.

"My name is Guntam Jager, and this is my friend Neomonni Garza," Grimmjow introduced himself and Nnoitra.

"I'm Strawberry and this is Shiro. We're actually cousins," Ichigo mentioned.

"The names suit you, Strawberry," Grimmjow said, his eyes glittering.

Ichigo groaned inwardly but knew he was just going to have to get used to it. "What kind of name is Guntam anyways?" he asked.

"It mean 'war raven' in German."

"Kind of a grim name, don't you think?" Ichigo asked.

"I'm a grim person…sometimes."

"Well, Grimm…feel like some dinner?" Ichigo said with a smile.

The two dancers sat next to their respective clients.

"I ain't gonna even try with yer name," Shiro admitted. "Can I just call ya Neo?"

"How about Nnoi?" Nnoitra said with a smirk.

"Works for me as long as ya buy some booze; I'm feeling a bit dry."

"Of course," Nnoitra said, motioning for the waitress to come.

"You were fucking sexy," Grimmjow whispered into Ichigo's ear.

"I got a lot more envelopes than just yours. I'll have to make the rounds," Ichigo told him.

Grimmjow frowned.

"Better luck on another night," Ichigo said. "Maybe I'll be all free just for you. We do do that for regular clients you know."

"Well then, I guess we should become members," Grimmjow smiled.

"I'm in," Nnoitra agreed.

Sung-Sun watched from the corner. 'Good, a couple of new people,' she thought to herself. 'And they look a little shady, exactly the type of person we need to know more about. I'll make sure that Strawberry and Shiro stay on those two and help them have a good time.'


End file.
